After the somewhat agonising wait FIBA, basketball world governing body finally announced last week its wild card choices for the World Championship in Spain later in the year.
Nigeria was not one of the countries announced as a winner; it was always a long shot at best given that 15 countries applied for the only four slots available. Brazil, Finland, Greece and Turkey were the chosen countries to join those who qualified directly from the various regional qualifiers.
Nigeria’s national team D’Tigers failed to qualify directly for the championship at the African qualifiers, Afrobasket 2013 in Abidjan losing narrowly to Senegal in the quarter final. The team finally placed seventh in the classification on the continent, but basketball buffs in the country led by the ever optimistic Nigeria Basketball Federation President Tijanni Umar, were optimistic of a getting a wild card berth.
Two of the countries Greece 5th in the world and Turkey 7th are ranked higher than Nigeria who is placed on number 18 in the world. Brazil is on number 19 with Finland ranked 39. But these rankings do not weight much in the calculation of FIBA central board in dispensing the wild card largesse. So Nigeria cannot cry over spilt milk. Indeed the entire continent has never been favoured since the wild card option was introduced.
Rather than depend on an unreliable mechanism to qualify for the World Championship, the responsibility was on D’Tigers to have done the job at the qualifiers, although it has to be said that the team was in blistering form, tearing through its group opponents before coming unstuck against Senegal in a close encounter which ended 64-63 in favour of the Senegalese.
Injuries to some of the team players like Stan Okoye, inability of Chamberlain Oguchi to play due to technical reason and unavailability of Derrick Obasohan, meant that the team was depleted in Abidjan.
Ike Diogu who was in action during Afrobasket in Abidjan explained why Nigeria deserved to be part of FIBA’s flagship event for the third time in their history and first since 2006, despite not picking an automatic ticket
“It was a disappointing tournament for us and Nigerians no doubt, especially after doing it even in most difficult circumstances at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament,” Diogu said.
“Everybody including us believed we could win the trophy for the first time for Nigeria but things went wrong early with the injuries.
“But we have to put that sad and disappointing experience behind us and hoping earnestly that Nigeria is given one of the wild cards.
“We, no doubt, had the best team at the AfroBasket (2013) and can only prove that again once we are given a chance to play at the World Cup,” Diogu explained.
But it was not be to be and the disappointment has continued to reverberate through the basketball community in the country.
“I thought we had a chance, I actually gave Nigeria 60-40 percent chance of getting a wild card considering the support the game is enjoying in the country,” says Segun Ikuesan a member of FIBA Africa Communication Department.
“Also the fact that we have players all over Europe and that no African team had ever benefitted from a wild card (we were the only African team that applied for wild card) and given that we met all the criteria coupled with the fact that Turkey had been given a wild card in the past, I was hopeful. The only thing is that we don’t enjoy so much government patronage.”
“You may argue that Finland is not in our class when it comes to basketball, after all we beat Greece and Lithuania in the pre-Olympic qualifiers (and that should have counted for us), but what I do know is that FIBA tries to encourage some of these countries that are struggling by given them a wild card.”
A board member of NBBF Patrick Omorodion says the matter is political and strictly within the jurisdiction of FIBA central board.
“I wasn’t disappointed. My only disappointment came in Cote d’Ivoire when we didn’t qualify directly,” says Omorodion.
“If you leave it to wild card anything can happen. It is like a gamble. If you have to pay some money to meet the wild card bid criteria why not put that money into the development of the game in the country? It is like a waste if you use it to apply for a wild card.”Former U-19 National team coach Adeka Daudu insists that Nigeria is not deserving of a wild card given that the country can’t really be classified as a basketball nation.
“Wild card is not a right for any country. FIBA decides who to give it to; it was introduced sometime ago and they’re stopping it after the World Championship this year; in its stead they plan to increase the number of teams taking part in the World Cup,” notes Daudu.
“Honestly however, is Nigeria really a basketball nation? It is a question we need to ask. What is our fan base? Can you compare Nigeria to European nations in the game? Our league is not even professional it is just semi professional and is not watched on terrestrial television. When you look at these things it is clear we are not there among basketball powerhouses.”
By: Vincent Eboigbe
