Nigeria’s Under-18 men’s and women’s basketball teams, the J’Tigers and J’Tigress, will not be returning to Nigeria on Monday morning as originally planned, following an unexpected delay caused by Kenyan Airways.
The Head of the Nigerian Delegation to the recently concluded FIBA Africa U18 Championship in South Africa, Ugo Udezue, confirmed earlier that both teams were set to arrive in Nigeria by 11:30 AM on Monday.
He stated, “Both teams are arriving in the country by 11am on Monday aboard a Kenyan Airways flight.”
However, as of Sunday midnight, the airline’s Lagos office issued an update, announcing a two-hour delay.
The exact cause of the delay was not immediately provided. “Our arrival in Lagos has shifted from 11:30am to 1:30pm. Delay from the Kenya (Airways) Lagos leg,” read a message from a member of the flight team coordinating the services.
The J’Tigress are coming back with a silver medal and, more importantly, a ticket to the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup in the Czech Republic, scheduled for July 12-20.
Despite their strong performance in the tournament, they fell short in the final against Mali, losing 76-56 on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, the J’Tigers’ run was halted in the semi-finals by the same Mali team, which went on to claim the men’s title after defeating Cameroon 60-51 in the final.
Both Mali and Cameroon will now represent Africa in the upcoming FIBA U19 World Cup.
