Nigeria made history with its women’s basketball team on Sunday, becoming the first African team to reach the quarterfinals of an Olympic tournament in the sport, beating Canada 79-70.
Ezinne Kalu’s 21 points were the main driver of Nigeria’s Group B triumph, helped in no small part by a near-perfect third quarter in which they scored 23 points and conceded just five.
The difference was 17 points, and Canada, ranked fifth in the world, was no closer than nine points behind at the end (79-70), which dictated Nigeria’s unprecedented qualification.
Nigeria failed to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympics and did not win a single game at Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021 due to Covid-19).
Australia-France in Group B of the tournament, played on the outskirts of Lille, set a new attendance record for a women’s basketball match in Europe with a total of 27,193 spectators, according to the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).
The match ended with a 79-72 win for the Australians, but a five-point tie between them and Nigeria meant the hosts finished top of the group, much to the delight of the crowd that packed Pierre Mauroy.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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