By Abiola Mujeeb
A board member of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, Mr. Patrick Omorodion, has revealed that the national men’s basketball team’s victory at the 2015 Afrobasket Championship in Tunisia on Sunday night was not without the input of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
Omorodion disclosed that the Vice-President’s personal telephone calls to each member of the D’Tigers team gave the players the motivation to win the title despite playing against the highly-rated Angolan team.
“It was obvious the boys were gingered by the motivational talk given to them by the vice president. The players were like wounded lions, the Angolans didn’t believe what struck them after they recorded several victories against Nigeria in previous competitions. They were shocked it was not business as usual for the Nigerian team.”
He noted that the vice president’s telephone call came at the right time and the team made the most of it, Omorodion said.
D’Tigers beat 10-time champions, Angola 74-65. It was Nigeria’s first victory against Angola in 10 matches.
The victory gave the Nigerian team a direct ticket to the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Chamberlain Oguchi, who scored 19 points, was voted the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament and was also named in the team of the tournament alongside teammate, Al-Farouq Aminu.
Oguchi, said after he was presented with the MVP award that: “It’s the best moment of my life, to be able to come here after missing the last AfroBasket, and do this with my brothers, it feels amazing. I am happy to share this moment with them and for me personally, it’s great.”
