SAN FRANCISCO, November 28, (THEWILL) – Rwanda, hosts of the ongoing African Basketball Championship (Afrobasket) qualifiers will face their toughest test yet when they square-off against D’Tigers of Nigeria on Saturday, November 28 in the second game of the competition at the Kigali Arena.
The Rwandans lost their first game 64-70 to the Malians on Thursday. That is why the game against D’Tigers is crucial to the qualification interests of the hosts.
As reported by THEWILL, Nigeria beat South Sudan 76-56 in their first group match of the qualifiers. They go into the second tie in a more comfortable position than their opponents.
No one knows this better than Rwanda’s captain, Olivier Shyaka. He was candid about their preparation for Saturday’s cracker admitting that the team was working on correcting some decisions that did not go well against Mali.
“We did not work together as a team against Mali on Thursday. Towards the end of the game, our players started concentrating more on individual performances, and that might have affected us on the night. We are working on correcting that.”
Shyaka hinted at his recognition of the threat the Nigerian continent posed and promised that the team was putting in every effort required to get a positive result from the game.
“We know the kind of opponent we are facing. We’ll approach the game as if our lives depend on it.
“This match against Nigeria will be hard, and we are going to focus on attacking. We are confident that we will win this match.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
