Nigeria pledges to select basketball team based on merit

Al-Farouq Aminu #7 of Nigeria shoots field goal in the Men’s Basketball Preliminary Round match between Lithuania and Nigeria on Day 4 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at Basketball Arena on July 31, 2012 in London

Abuja, July 28 (IANS) Nigeria has pledged to make merit the basis for selection of players to represent the country at the “Basketball Without Borders (BWB)” camp in South Africa.

President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) Tijani Umar made the promise when he declared open the selection camp here Saturday, reports Xinhua.

The NBBF invited 30 players from across the country for the two-day selection camp at the Indoor Sports Hall of the Abuja National Stadium.

Only eight players from the lot will be selected to represent the country at the BWB camp in South Africa later in the year.

This year’s screening will be more challenging because the quota for Nigeria was reduced from 12 to eight and that makes the selection more challenging, he added.

The NBBF president said that apart from selecting players to represent the country, they would also be part of NBBF’s developmental programme.