D’Tigress will be hoping to get their Group B 2022 FIBA Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournament campaign to a great start when they face world No.7 China in their opening game at the Ranko Žeravica Sports Hall, Belgrade on Thursday (today).
The full team arrived Belgrade on Tuesday and would be hoping to shake off the jetlag and lack of comprehensive camping in their opening game against China.
The team will be without influential point guard Ezinne Kalu, who had been ruled out of action for six months following a knee injury in November, leaving the team with only one proven guard, Promise Amukamara.
Speaking ahead of the game, head coach Otis Hughley Jr. said they would have to defend properly and be quick in transition against the Chinese, who had better time to prepare.
“To do well at this tournament we have to defend well for sure, if we can defend well and take our shots, then we will be fine,” Hughley said at the pre-match press conference monitored by our correspondent.
“China scored eight three points in Serbia in a training game.
“China have been practicing. They are probably the only country who have all their players in one country, so they’re able to pull their players away whenever they want. They’ve spent at least two weeks in practicing and we started on Tuesday, so we’re still trying to figure out who we are.
“It’s a tough loss (being without Kalu) but we have some good players that can do all the things she does but we’re just going to need to play a little bit differently. We’re a little short-handed but we’re still going to put five players on the court and play as hard as we can.”
Captain of the side, Adaora Elonu, says the team are focused on their assignment.
“Keeping us focused is the least of our worries, we’ve been together for a while, we the players are familiar with each other, so, it’s just to go out there and play hard. We’re going to be focused on ourselves and try to compete the best way we can.”
D’Tigress are currently ranked No.15 in the world.
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