Power forward of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA)’s Jiangsu Monkey King, Ike Diogu, has expressed his willingness to help Nigeria’s male basketball team, D’Tigers, defend its FIBA AfroBasket title in the Republic of Congo in August, 2017.
Having suffered a leg injury just days before the FIBA AfroBasket in Tunisia two years ago, the 33-year-old watched from the sidelines as Nigeria won her first-ever continental basket championship.
Although Nigeria finished with a 1-4 record at the Rio Olympics and Diogu led his team in scoring with an average of 12 points and 8.6 rebounds, the 2.03m-tall forward said there was no reason for disappointment, as the team has a crown to defend against the likes Senegal, Tunisia and Angola.
“I intend to represent Nigeria until I retire. I have so much pride every time I put on the jersey. We have made so many strides, so I owe it to future generations to continue to make sure we leave the national team in better shape than when we first joined.
“So, for me, this is a huge summer to show everyone in Africa [that] I’m back, healthy and ready to help win a championship, God-willing. On the other hand, Senegal, Tunisia and Angola are so talented and it will be a dog-fight to win it all, but I’m excited about the challenge,” Diogu told FIBA.com
The Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF) has announced preparatory games against top teams – Australia, Lithuania, France, Serbia and China – and Diogu said the status of the opponents confirms Nigeria’s arrival on the international stage of basketball.
“I feel that we are very well respected. If you look at Rio Olympics 2016 compared to London Olympics 2012, we were in every game except our first game against Argentina. So we could have easily gone 4-1 in our group. We were that close to doing that as opposed to 1-4. So teams know we have a special group that can play with anyone. So I’m excited about this summer.