Nigeria’s Junior D’Tigers suffers second straight loss, fall 59

From JOE APU , Abidjan Nigeria’s crisis-hit U18 men’s basketball team suffered a second consecutive defeat at the FIBA U18 AfroBasket Championship on Friday, going down 59-50 to Chad in a Group A clash at the Palais des Sports de Treichville. The Junior D’Tigers, who arrived in Abidjan as joint-record champions with six continental titles, took the floor with just nine available players after two additions were cleared to bolster a squad that had been gutted by an eligibility crisis. Nigeria’s troubles began before the tournament even started, when nearly half of the original 12-man squad — five players awaited FIBA’s mandatory medical age-verification process and were ruled ineligible, plunging preparations into disarray. The suspension reportedly caught up with players who had already featured in Nigeria’s domestic professional league, including one who had played in this year’s Basketball Africa League.