Nigeria’s senior men’s basketball team, D’Tigers, defeated Mali 20-0 in a FIBA World Cup qualifier without a shot at the Kigali Arena in Rwanda.
A wounded D’Tigers wanted to get back on track against Mali after falling to Cape Verde 79-70 in game 4 of the qualification campaign.
Mali, on the other hand, failed not show up for their match against Uganda and was suspended by the organization that governs basketball throughout the world for missing a second game.
The message by FIBA said, “Due to their failure to appear to its games against Uganda on July 1 and against Nigeria on July 2 in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 African Qualifiers, the Mali National Team has lost each of these games by forfeit.
“According to the official basketball rules, if in a tournament the team forfeits for the second time, the team shall be disqualified from the tournament and the results of all games played by this team shall be nullified.
“The remaining games of the third window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 African Qualifiers will take place as scheduled.”
D’Tigers now take on Uganda in their final first-round qualification fixture scheduled to take place tomorrow.
