Olympics: D’Tigress Denied Entry To Opening Ceremony Boat, Others Join Niger, Norway

Olympics: D’Tigress denied entry to opening ceremony boat, others join Niger, Norway

By Aremu Adebayo

The Nigeria women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, wasn’t allowed to board the delegation’s boat for the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

Somebody told The Associated Press on Friday on condition of anonymity. However, the Nigeria delegation has not publicly commented.

The team made it to the area where it was supposed to board the boat for the ceremony. But the group was denied entry by a Nigerian official who told the players and coaches there were too many people on board.

The female basketball players and their coaches then made their way to the athletes’ village after being turned away.

The rest of the Nigerian delegation shared a boat with Niger and Norway.

The team had been sent logistics for the event before the group made the 2-hour, 28-minute, 138-mile (222 km) trip.

D’Tigress players were part of a bus caravan of several teams from Lille, where the preliminary basketball rounds are being played. The buses had a police escort.

The buses going back to Lille were picking up the teams at the end of the opening ceremony. It was unclear if Nigerians were able to reach the pick-up point in time to avoid staying in Paris till this morning.

Nigeria is playing in its third Olympics. They open play on Monday against Australia.

D’Tigress has the only win in Olympic history for an African nation. It was when the Nigerian basketball female team beat Korea in the 2004 Athens Games in the 11th-place contest.