The duo of Coaches Sani Ahmed and Adeka Daudu has been named by the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF as Head Coach and Assistant Coach of the nation senior men national team, D’Tigers. Speaking to journalists last weekend in Kaduna , President of the NBBF, Tijjani Umar says the two coaches are to tinker D’Tigers for the FIBA Africa Zone-III elimination billed for Lome , Togo next month.
Coach Sani Ahmed was chosen due to his vast experience having served as assistant to Coaches Ayo Bakare and the immediate past foreign coach of the national team, John Lucas, Coach Daudu on the other hand was head coach of Nigeria Junior national team and the two tacticians will have six other countries to contend with for the two spot reserved for the remaining seven countries in zone since Cote d’Ivoire is already through to the final round as 2009 runner-up and host of the 2011 edition of the biggest basketball showpiece in Africa and the 10th All Africa Games.
The qualifiers will be prosecuted mainly by home-based players many of whom featured in the first DStv All-Stars Games last weekend in Kaduna which saw the Atlantic conference running away with a 93-82 point’s victory over its Savannah conference counterpart.
The team is expected to open camp next week in a yet to be named venue ahead of the qualifiers. The Nigerian team will begin camping in Kaduna – north central region of the country - as from July 29 and train through August 7 before the journey to Lome. Sani was an assistant coach to Libya 2009 Afrobasket where Nigeria finished fifth.
Other countries expected at the Togo elimination series includes, host Togo , Liberia , Niger , Benin , Burkina Faso and Ghana .