Players of D’Tigers are set to undergo a compulsory 24-hour self-isolation after their arrival in Kigali, Rwanda, the venue of the 2021 Afrobasket qualifiers.
The players arrived in Kigali late Monday night and were administered COVID-19 tests with the results yet to be released.
The qualifiers are scheduled to hold between November 25 to 29, with the Nigerian team billed to face South Sudan in their opening game on Thursday.
The isolation period is a setback for the team that have less than two days to prepare for the competition.
The team are yet to train together having arrived from their different bases for the closed camp in Kigali.
Head coach of the team, Mike Brown, had arrived at the venue of the competition on Saturday together with his assistant, John Kuester, with the leader of the delegation and vice president of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, Babs Ogunade, arriving on Friday.
Ogunade in a chat with us confirmed that the players will be self-isolation upon their arrival.
“The players will go through the very strict Rwandan COVID-19 protocols, thereafter go straight into 24-hour self-isolation.
We hope the results can come out early. This will help our team practice,” Ogunade told us.
“Nigeria will face South Sudan, Rwanda and Mali in Group D. Other countries already in Kigali for the Afrobasket qualifiers are Angola, Central Africa Republic, Mozambique, Tunisia, Senegal, Kenya.
D’Tigers’ opponent in the qualifiers and host, Rwanda, continued their preparation for the tournament with a 96-65 comprehensive win over Mozambique on Sunday.
The NBBF had decided to conserve funds when they confirmed that the camping for the qualifies will be done in Rwanda and not in Nigeria.
