- Safiu Kehinde
Nigeria’s Minister of Sports, John Owan Enoh, has hailed D’Tigress’ Boss, Rena Wakama, after emerging as the best coach of the basketball tournament at the just concluded Olympics game in Paris.
Enoh, in a statement on his X handle yesterday, commended Wakama for and her outstanding leadership and achievement she made with the Nigerian female basketball team.
He said the team demonstrated remarkable prowess and dedication in the course of the tournament as they made history as the first African basketball team (male or female) to reach Olympics quarter-finals.
“Coach Rena Wakama, this accolade is a testament to your outstanding leadership. Your team, @DtigressNG, demonstrated remarkable prowess and dedication under your guidance, achieving a historic quarterfinal (male or female)and a four-place ranking improvement, from 12th place to 8th place.
“This accomplishment is truly deserving of recognition. We extend our sincerest congratulations to you on this outstanding achievement.” Enoh wrote.
Despite Team Nigeria’s terrible campaign at the Paris Olympics where they failed to win a single medal, the D’Tigress were joy to watch as they took the basketball category by storm.
Having scaled through the group stage where they drawn with France, Australia, and Canada, the D’Tigress were faced with a tough task of defeating basketball powerhouse, USA.
Though they failed as the US defeated them, but they gave a good fight and kept the Americans on their toes.
Their feat at the Olympics had also seen them leapfrog from 12th position in FIBA ranking to 8th position.