Nwora sure D’Tigers will pick Africa’s ticket to Paris

Head coach of the men’s national senior basketball team, Alex Nwora is banking on hard work and better team chemistry to improve the chances of his team qualifying for the FIBA 2019 World Cup.

Speaking after the team narrowly lost to world number one side, United States of America at the weekend in the finals of the PEAK international invitational tournament in China, Nwora said: “I am very happy with where we are as a team, but I think we can do better. We still have a long way to go to be able to have that type of team to compete with anybody in the world.”

Looking ahead of the second round of qualifications between September 14 and 16 in Lagos, he said more work was required to achieve the desired height.
“We have a very good chance, but nothing is cast on stone yet. The more you work, the more confident you become. If we keep doing what we are doing and keep pushing forward, the odds favour us.  We will do what we are supposed to do without cutting corners,” he said.

Despite amassing maximum points from six games and sitting comfortably atop Group F, Nwora highlighted availability of players as one of the biggest challenges ahead of the games against Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Central Africa.

“We still have to get stronger as a team, unit rotation and also availability of players, which is the biggest problem which I hope we will find a way to fix,” Nwora said.

With players sealing new contracts and some taking part in the NBA summer league amidst other unforeseen circumstances, Nwora says some new faces are expected to be called up into the team.

He is hopeful that the best available players can be assembled and given enough preparation time to build up team chemistry.