Nigeria male basketball team, D’Tigers retained their position on the continent, as the best playing basketball team with the latest FIBA world ranking released by the sport governing body on Thursday.
The D’Tigers who secured qualification ticket to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo at the 2019 FIBA world cup moved up ten places in the world ranking from their previous 33rd position.
Nigeria secured the ticket to the Olympics after a 83-66 victory over Ivory Coast, was followed by a 86-73 win over host nation China to finish top in Group M of the tournament held in September.
Angola take the second position accumulating 332.7 points, while Tunisia, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Cameroon, Mali, CAF and DR Congo complete the best ten playing nation in Africa.
In addition to the sixteen teams that secured qualification to the 2020 Olympics via the FIBA World Cup, the latest edition of the ranking serves as the basis to determine the last eight teams to secure places in next year’s FIBA Olympic Qualification Tournaments.
Despite the Americans shock exit to France in China, they sit top of the chart with Spain, Australia, Argentina, France, Serbia, Greece, Lithuania, Russia and Czech Republic completing the best ten playing country in the world respectively.
Nigeria are 23rd on the global ranking with 441.4 points, a massive 108.7 points difference from the closest rival on the Africa continent.
