The Nigeria men’s national basketball team, D’Tigers have left the shores of the country for the FIBA Afrobasket 2017 tournament to be staged in Tunisia and Senegal.

The Nigerian men shocked the continent in 2015 as they overran other favorites to win their maiden African title.

Now the stakes are higher and the D’Tigers are ready to show that their triumph two years ago was no fluke.

Even though the bulk of the title-winning team are not available for the first defense of the title, D’Tigers Team captain, Ike Diogu who plays for Chinese side, Jiangsu Monkey King told BOUNCE Sports in an exclusive interview they are fired up to conquer the continent again.

He said: “These are two totally different teams. The team that won the championship 2 years ago had been together for a very long time and most of us here are all coming together for the first time. Talent wise, we’re a very good and strong team but we don’t have the same bond like the last team.”

Source: [url]http://news.bounce.ng/Content/bounceexclusive-dtigers-on-a-mission-to-conquer-africa-again-20170906
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On whether there is extra pressure for D’Tigers following the recent conquest by the female national basketball team who emerged tops in Mali, Diogu admitted that there is some pressure but insists that the team will be focused.

“We just want to come out and play hard and take one game at a time. Obviously, the main goal is to win the championship just like everybody else but we can’t get too ahead of ourselves and we just want to take one game at a time and make sure we play hard in every game.”

Watch D’Tigers Captain Speak with Bounce Sports below


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50L7Ue0DA24

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