Nigeria becomes first African basketball team to qualify for Olympic quarterfinals

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France (AP) — Ezinne Kalu had a giant smile on her face as she joined her teammates for a celebratory run around the court with Nigerian flags.

Nigeria had reached a place no African country in men’s or women’s basketball had ever gone before — the quarterfinals of the Olympics.

Kalu scored 21 points and Nigeria secured a spot in the elimination round in Paris by downing Canada 79-70 on Sunday for its second win of the Olympics.

“It means a lot, you know, not just to us as a team, but to the entire world of Africa,” Kalu said. “It only gets harder from here.”

When the final buzzer sounded, the team went to midcourt to start celebrating, with an assistant coach using her phone to record the moment. The Nigerians stopped to high-five the Canadians, and then returned to celebrating with a midcourt huddle.

An assistant coach grabbed a flag from a fan for photos on the court, and the Nigerians took their time hugging and posing for more photos as they savored the moment.

“Surreal. This isn’t going to hit me for another couple of hours,” coach Rena Wakama said. “I’m extremely proud of my girls.”

Nigeria opened the Paris Games with a surprising victory against Australia. That was the first win in the Olympics in 20 years for the African nation.

It has been a difficult few years for Nigeria since the team reached the quarterfinals of the 2018 World Cup. The country was winless at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and then internal strife between the basketball federation and the government caused the team to miss playing in the World Cup in 2022.

The Olympics got off to a difficult start for the Nigerian team. The team was denied access to Nigeria’s boat for the opening ceremony on July 26.

Now it will play Wednesday in Bercy Arena on the banks of the Seine River as part of the final eight.

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“I’m starting to see the light. I mean, the tunnel has been pretty dark, but I’m happy we get to see the light,” Kalu said. “I mean, there’s so much more, there’s so much more to come.”

Nigeria almost had company in Paris on the men’s side as South Sudan, which was playing in its first Olympic basketball tournament, narrowly missed reaching the quarterfinals. South Sudan would have been the first men’s team from Africa to advance that far, but the team lost to Serbia in its final group stage match Saturday.

South Sudan beat Puerto Rico in its tournament opener to set up the opportunity.

“We have these women. So we are very proud,” FIBA Africa Regional Director Alphonse Bilé told the AP. “We are all Africa. I can say that they don’t just play for Nigeria but play for Africa.”