Trend setters, D’Tigress beat Canada, blaze into women’s basketball quarterfinals

They were not expected to upset the applecart at the ongoing women’s basketball event of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Ranked number 12 in the world, there were better-rated and more famous teams than the D’Tigress of Nigeria.

Although they came into the competition as African champions, that did not count for anything as no team from the black continent has ever gone past the first round of the women’s basketball event in the history of the Olympics.

But the D’Tigress, yesterday, in Lille, France showed that they are no ordinary team. Surely, a team that has once qualified for the quarterfinals of the World Cup is not one to be taken lightly.

That was what Australia did to their regret on July 29 and again, Canada fell to the lull of the lie in statistics as the D’Tigress left them wondering what has happened to their famed pedigree.

Australia is ranked number three in the world, yet the D’Tigress took them to the cleaners in the opening round of Group B. The same fate befell number five-ranked Canada, yesterday, when D’Tigress put up a Masterclass to send the North Americans packing from the Games.

The world knew that in Ezinne Kalu, Nigeria has one of the best players in the competition. But what confounded most in Sunday’s encounter, was the fearlessness displayed by Amy Okonkwo, Elizabeth Balogun’s guile, Promise Amukamara’s movement, Marjanatu Musa’s fighting spirit, and Pallas Kunaiyi Akpanah’s game-breaking blocks.

The match commentator described the D’Tigress as tearing up the script in a big way at the Games, picking yesterday’s 79-70 defeat of Canada as the biggest upset yet in the Games.

Yesterday was the first time Nigeria will win two games at the Olympics, and the manner of the victory was also impressive as they