D’TIGRESS of Nigeria have been handed the toughest clash possible as they have been drawn to play the United States of America in the women’s basketball quarter-final of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The African champions made history yesterday when they defeated Canada to become the first-ever team from the continent, male or female, to reach the Olympics quarter-finals.
As reward for that feat, D’Tigress were last night paired against the world’s top women’s basketball national team for a spot in the semi-finals and the medal zone.
USA are not just the No.1 ranked team in the world by FIBA — Nigeria are 12th — they are also totally dominant in the Olympics.
The Americans have won gold in each of the last seven Olympics, dating back to the 1996 Games in Atlanta, and have been champions in nine of the last 10 editions, missing out only in 1992 when they won bronze.
Having won two games at the same Olympics for the first time ever, D’Tigress would have some confidence, but the USA were the team everyone was hoping to avoid.
In other quarter-final pairings, Serbia will face Australia, the world No.3 team that D’Tigress stunned in their opening game, while Spain will battle Belgium and Germany will play France.
All the quarter-final games are scheduled for Wednesday, with Serbia versus Australia starting things off in the morning and Nigeria versus USA closing out the contests in the evening.
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