Paris 2024: Rena Wakama seeks investment in D’Tigress after Olympics ouster

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

The head coach of Nigeria’s senior women’s basketball team, Rena Wakama, is optimistic about the future of the team.

After an 88-74 loss to Olympics champions, the United States of America (USA), in the quarter-final, which ended D’Tigress’s campaign at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Wakama, who became the first coach to lead an African team to the quarter-final, hope more investment in and resources can get to the team.

According to the coach, more investment and resources will spur a podium finish.

“The future is bright; we need to invest in us; we need to give these girls other resources for them to get to the podium and win a medal,” Wakama told journalists after the quarter-final match vs USA.

“We have the talents, everyone on the team is Nigeria, we didn’t get anybody from outside, we are all Nigerians, born and raised in Nigeria.

“We need to invest in the future and invest in Sports.” She concluded.

D’Tigress won two of their four games at the Olympics against top six ranked teams, Australia and Canada to make it to the last four.

Making it to the quarter-final of the Olympics seemed like winning a medal for Nigeria in basketball, as no African country has been able to achieve such a feat.