Nigeria’s national women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, have been drawn in a difficult group of the basketball event at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
African Champions D’Tigress, who are Africa’s sole representatives in the event have been paired in Group B alongside Australia, Canada and France, Reelradio.com.ng reports.
The draw took place on Tuesday at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball in Mies, Switzerland and was overseen by basketball icons Penny Taylor and NBA legend Carmelo Anthony.
Canada, Australia and France are ranked higher than the Nigerian women’s basketball team.
While D’Tigress are ranked 12th in the world, Australia are third, Canada are fifth and France occupy number seven.
According to world body FIBA, the women’s Olympic basketball tournament draw principles were determined by the world rankings, along with geographical considerations.
At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, D’Tigress were also drawn with France and lost to the European side.
This is the third time D’Tigress will qualify for the Olympics Games after featuring at Athens 2004 and Tokyo 2020.
The Basketball event at the Paris 2024 Olympics holds at the Decathlon Arena – Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille.
The first two teams in each group qualify automatically for the quarter-finals of the tournament while the best two third-place teams also stand a chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals.
The Women’s Olympic Basketball Tournament is scheduled from July 29 to August 11.
