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| *Oguche: Not banned by FIBA |
Afrobasket 2013 News
Oguche Not Banned
By FIBA –Bakare
Contrary to reports that Team Nigeria’s Chamberlain Oguche has been banned from the on-going 2013 Afrobasket in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, Chief Coach of the team, Ayo Bakare has said the player is not on any ban.
According to Bakare, the sport’s continental governing body, Fiba Africa, only advised the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF not to feature him in the ongoing competition following the withdrawal of his clearance of participation pending the completion of their investigation of some issues with his club.“Fiba just advised that we do not play him because his clearance to play in this tournament has been temporarily suspended until they conclude their investigation on issues they have not disclosed. The issue, I leanrt has to do with his club in Spain and not the national team,” he said.
He stressed that the NBBF and the coaching crew are particularly worried that the issue in question has to be communicated to the team a few days to the commencement of their first match, adding,”we have been in touch with them to tell us the reason for this action at this time and I must confess to you that it is a blow to us, as he is the pivot of our team. We have already readjusted our strategies to accommodate the unfortunate incident.”
Coach Bakare added that both Oguche’s Spanish club and the NBBF are still communicating with Fiba Africa in order to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, so the player can rejoin the team in their quest to win the trophy for the first time.
…Tunisia In Stunning Victory Over Burkina Faso
Defending champions of the Afrobasket, Tunisia yesterday virtually rolled over one of the debutants in the Afrobasket, Burkina Faso, creating a mark of the widest margin victory lead so far here after thumping their opponents 100-45.
The Tunisians who managed a slim win of 56-54 over fellow north Africans, Morocco, scored a stunning 51-1 lead during the match which also saw them with a scoring run of 11-0 and 53-22 while their top player, Ben Romdhane Macram scored the highest point of 23 in the encounter.
Meanwhile with their two wins, the Tunisians now top Group B and will play their last group match against Rwanda on Sunday.
D’Tigers Stun Aggressive Congo 93-75 Points
*As Injury Hit team
Nigeria’s male basketball team, D’Tigers need to beat their Cameroonian counterparts in their last group match on Sunday to top Group D and perennial rivals, Angola before the final after they won their second match against Congo at the Palais des Sports in Abidjan yesterday.
In the first quarter which saw Team Nigeria ahead all through they had to rely on experience to checkmate the rugged Congolese who adopted rough tactics to end it at 53-32. They scored the best fast break points of 10 to Congo’s 2, while the Congolese scored 15 turn over points to Nigeria’s 12.
The second quarter went Nigeria’s way as the team garnered 25 more points to Congo’s 14, but the Congolese had the better of the third quarter with 26 points to Nigeria’s 25. However, Nigeria still led by 72-58 points
In the last quarter, Stan Okoye got knocked down and was stretchered out but the team still held on despite the aggressive tactics of the Central Africans, who had the better of three point shots all through the encounter.
Congo’s aggressive play later cost them Okemba Leo Ruddy Acard, who was sent out after five mandatory fouls. The game wore on and Nigeria smiled at the end netting 93-75 points with 25 points to Congo’s 17 in the last quarter.
Meanwhile the victory came at a great cost as another player, Andy Ogide joined Richard Oruche on the injury list, when he suffered a knee injury that may rule him out of the competition with one group match against another rugged side Cameroon on Sunday.
With Ogide and Oruche sidelined by injuries and Chamberlain Oguche yet to be cleared by the sport’s governing body, Fiba Africa, Coach Ayo Bakare is worried about how to cope with the remaining nine players with more matches to go.
The Nigerian coach expressed his displeasure about officiating in the match against Congo, as he dubbed the encounter too physical. He added: “I just hope the officiating will improve against Cameroon, that’s another physical side.”
“The officiating of the match against Congo was disappointing I must confess, but that is not to remove anything from the Congolese. The game was too physical, causing a lot of injuries for my team. I hope the officiating would improve in our next games.
“With three players down and another not too certain, we will have to adopt another strategy and see how it goes,” Bakare said at the post match press briefing in Abidjan.
