Former Nigeria vice president Atiku Abubakar has congratulated D’Tigers after they stunned basketball superpower USA in an exhibition game in the early hours of Sunday.
D’Tigers who are ranked 22 in the world shocked No. 1-ranked team and three-time Olympic gold winners USA 90-87.
The game is part of the build up games ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The Americans had gone 39-0 in their last three Olympic seasons — including pre-Olympic exhibitions — on their way to gold medals and had been 54-2 in major exhibitions since NBA players began playing for USA Basketball in 1992.
Also, they’d beaten D’Tigers by a combined 127 points in their last two meetings, one at the 2012 London Games by 83 points, the other a warm-up for the 2016 Rio Games by 44 points.
In the latest clash, D’Tigers trailed only 43-41 at the half, led for long stretches of the opening 20 minutes.
And reacting to the impressive win Atiku wrote on Twitter:”Congratulations, Team Nigeria, @NigeriaBasket.”
D’Tigers are in Group B at the Olympics alongside Germany, Italy and Australia.
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