Nigeria players to the ongoing FIBA U-16 Africa Championship in Cape Verde have rated their experiences as awesome and life changing after four days on the coastal West African island.
The Nigerian team aiming for a first two finish at the championship which will automatically qualify them for the U-17 FIBA World Cup in Sofia Bulgaria in 2020 had their first free day on Monday since arriving in Praia, the capital city of Cape Verde on Friday.
The boys, sponsored to the competition on the stables of Nestlé Milo recorded their first win against the hosts on Sunday at the Vava Duarte stadium in front of a packed gymnasium cheering the home side.
Taking a look at the first four days of their stay in the country, the boys say there have been more positives than negatives as they intend to enjoy more of the scenery also getting more wins on the scoreboard.
Small forward, Precious Ikpe said. “They are loving and friendly people it is also a developing country, and I discover that their population is not as much as Nigeria. They are all beautiful and they look like Brazilians and this country is a good tourist place because of their beautiful ocean. Some of the things I don’t like since coming is their food, it is way different from what we eat in Nigeria, they don’t eat pepper at all.”
Power forward James Okemirie stated that the first thing he noticed was the way the houses looked. “I like the way their houses look, the beach which is very blue and I like their closeness to the ocean, the hills and the roads here are beautiful and they are very organized.”