Head Coach of Nigeria D’Tigers, Alex Nwora has come down hard on the Cameroon Basketball Federation (FECABASKET) for their match fixing allegation against the D’Tigers.
FECABASKET and Cameroonians allegedly blamed D’Tigers for purposely losing to Côte d’Ivoire to aide their qualification for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
Nwora said such careless statement borne out of frustration is capable of bringing the sport into disrepute and should not be taken lightly by the Federation of International Basketball Associations (FIBA).
Nwora blasted Cameroon saying they embarked on a self-destruct mission during the qualifiers which ultimately cost them a world cup ticket.
“If such is coming from Cameroon that is hypocrisy. Instead of employing average coaches, they should have gone for the best. They have a very good coach now who I know very well, he is one of the best coaches and I learnt most of the stuff from him.”
According to him, angry Cameroonians should hold their federation responsible for costing the country a place in China after their gamble backfired.
Nwora reckoned that losing 5 games in the qualifying series sealed their fate and not Nigeria that FECABASKET or Cameroonians are trying to blame.
He wondered how much cash or incentives would have been enough for the players and the coaching crew for the match to have been fixed.
“I wanted to go undefeated, make history for my country. Do you know how much Nigeria has for Cameroon to insinuate that we came here to sell a game? How much are they going to pay us? Who will pay us to sell a game?”
“These are professional players who make money. If they want to do something right, they should not blame their stupidity on these kids and Nigeria because these guys are professional.”
He described the allegation as an insult on his person, profession, players and what the NBBF stands for.
The US based coach is threatening legal action against FECABASKET or any individual who will stop at nothing to malign his name.
“If anybody is trying to question my integrity, my country and the people that I represent, that is an insult and this is the last time I want to hear that. If my name comes in, I will sue Cameroon or whoever does that.”
