The country’s men and women’s basketball teams will need $4m to prepare and compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, the Nigeria Basketball Federation has stated.
The NBBF entered the history books as the first African basketball body to steer their two national teams to the Olympics, but the federation now has a huge task to seek corporate sponsorship to fund both squads at the world’s sports showpiece in Japan next year.
Vice President of the NBBF, Babatunde Ogunade, said the proposed budget would cover the D’Tigers’, the men’s national team and African women’s champions D’Tigress.
Reports have it that the biggest obstacle before the NBBF is the number of top-class players both teams had attracted from the NBA, WNBA and top leagues across Europe ahead of Olympics camping.
The NBA insists the least their players can fly is Business Class, but with about 10 players coming from the NBA alone, the NBBF is faced with the tough challenge of buying Business Class tickets for non-NBA players as well, in an effort to ensure team unity.
