Nigeria women basketball team, African Champions the D’Tigress edged out world no. 5, France in a 67-65 victory at the ongoing 2022 FIBA Women’s World Cup qualifier in Serbia on Friday evening to take a giant step towards qualification.
Having lost by 14 points (90-76) in the first game to China, D’Tigress produced a massive comeback from 20 points down to hand the French team their first defeat at the qualifiers.
Nigeria’s D’Tigress lost the first quarter 11-28 after a slow start but recovered quickly in Q2 to win 16-10. They carried on in Q3 and Q4 winning 21-14 19-13 respectively to squeeze out a tight but deserved victory.
The win makes it the first for the girls over France in three meetings with the latest being the group stage loss at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics held in Japan last year.
The African Champions have now lost one and won one of their two FIBA Women’s World Cup qualifiers in Belgrade, Serbia and will now face Mali in their last group stage fixture on Sunday February 13, 2022 to officially confirm their place at the 2022 FIBA Women’s World Cup in Australia later this year.
