D’Tigress relishes tough challenge as camp ends in Atlanta

D’Tigress on Sunday concluded the first phase of their 2020 Olympics camping in Atlanta which lasted for 10 days with 15 players in attendance.

The training camp which is one of the numerous being put in place by the Nigerian Basketball Federation has been described as a great concept which allowed the current players in the team bond well with the new faces invited by Coach Otis Hughley.

Recapping what went down in Atlanta, Team captain, Adaora Elonu said, “We had few faces in camp and it was a nice mix. Everyone meshed real well because as you know the basketball world is quite small and we all know each other somehow.”

After spending about 10 days together, she believes the latest addition of Nicole Enabosi, Erica Ogwumike, Oderah Chidom, Amy Okonkwo and Elizabeth Williams will only strengthen the team and make it easier to compete and fight as a stronger unit.

“It won’t be difficult at all for us to come together on the court, compete and fight as one unit. We have all mixed quite well. There were players that had never attended camp, there were some who returned after some time.”

“It’s been nice just to see the faces and get to know everyone. After the first day, we had the environment where we felt like we already knew each other and it was really nice”, the two time FIBA Afrobasket winner said.

The Uni Girona of Spain forward is looking forward to the next camp where she is optimistic that some European based players who missed out of the first camping exercise due to COVID-19 and restrictions in Europe will be present.

“It will be a good chance for all of us to be together later on in the summer and see how we all mesh together as one team, fight for the coveted 12 spots to the Tokyo Olympics”.

She revealed that the healthy rivalry in the team is at an all-time high which will make competition for the 12 available spots to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics more difficult than ever before.

“But right now the group of girls we have are really solid, great players and personalities that can fit in with the ones competing for Nigeria so far.”

Nigeria is grouped alongside USA, host-Japan and France in group B.