Tokyo Olympics basketball: D’Tigress, D’Tigers drawn into tough groups

NIGERIA’s men’s and women’s basketball teams have been drawn into tough groups for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The Olympic Games basketball tournament will be held from 25 July to 7 August.

The draw was held on Tuesday in Mies, Switzerland.

African women’s champions D’Tigress will be playing in Group B against the United States of America, France and Japan, while D’Tigers” only known opponents at the moment are the Australians.

Women’s Group A has Korea, Serbia, Canada and Spain; Group C has Australia, Puerto Rico, China and Belgium.

All three of the Nigerian women’s opponents are ranked higher than D’Tigress in the toughest group of the event.

The USA are the No.1 team in the world with 832 FIBA ranking points, France are No.5 in the world with 640 points, and hosts Japan are 10th in the world with 540 points.

Nigeria’s D’Tigress are ranked No.1 in Africa and No.14 in the world with 366 points.

In the men’s event, D’Tigers are ranked 22nd in the world with 433 points, 19 places lower than the Australians who have 666 points.

The two other teams in the group will be determined by qualifying tournaments in Serbia and Croatia.

Nigeria’s men and women are Africa’s only representatives in basketball at the Games.