Nigeria women’s team captain, Adaora Elonu and some of her World Cup history makers are in Lagos and would begin training today, at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
The team, which also have on ground Aisha Mohammed Balarabe, will be gunning to retain the AfroBasket Women title they won in Bamako, Mali, in 2017, without dropping a game.
However, they would need to wade off host, Senegal and Angola who are adamant they still can compete for the title. Angola has endured a tough reality over the past four years, but remains adamant that it still can compete against the best nations in Africa and reclaim a title that starts to become elusive.
Against all odds, eight years ago, Angola shocked host, Mali, in the semifinals before knocking down favourite, Senegal, in the 2011 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket final, to claim her first-ever continental title.
And to reiterate their Africa champions’ position, the Southern Africans kept the core of the team, resigned the coaching staff and added a few younger players for the next two years. And the strategy paid off with a second straight Africa title two years later in Maputo, Mozambique.
In the process, Angola got the chance of facing major world opposition at the 2012 London Olympics, before making her FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup debut in Turkey, in 2014. All that helped the Angolans to climb to the top ranking of Africa.
However, a fourth place finish at the 2015 edition of the African Championship in Yaounde, followed by a modest showing performance in Bamako two years ago, where they finished sixth, raised more unanswered questions about their future than anything else.