Nigerian-American professional basketball player, Al-Farouq Aminu, has expressed excitement ahead Nigeria’s D’Tigers opener against Russia at the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China.
The power forward, who plies his trade for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), admitted that qualifying from the preliminary round of the 2019 Basketball World Cup in China will be a tough call but says D’Tigers will be prepared for the battle.
D’Tigers, the best African National Team according to the FIBA World Rankings, will kick off the matches at Wuhan facing Russia on August 31st.
Argentina and South Korea will follow.
Speaking in a FIBA report, Aminu said:
“The first three games of the first round are going to be our first finals.
“I am really excited for the start of the competition and we are going to start against a very good team of Russia. They have some very good players, with guys such as Mozgov and all their players that are part of some of the best European teams. We will have to be ready and focused from the beginning of the competition, and we won’t have any room for mistakes.”
On Argentina, he added: “
They play with a lot of intensity. We will have to bring our A game against them,” he said and on South Korea mentioned: “They are going to play close from home, so we can expect a lot of fans coming from Korea to cheer and support them.”
The 28-year-old forward of the Portland Trail Blazers summed up the group pointing out:
“The group is very open and every team has a chance to make it to the next round. It’s going to be a tough battle, but we will be ready.”
Asked about Nigeria’s ambitions, he replied:
“Our first goal is to fight for a spot to the next round. We want to show that we have been improving and that Nigeria’s competitiveness is very good. We aren’t going to China to play and just go home after three games. We want to go to the knockout stage and have a great run.
“We have a lot of potentials and we can do great things, we want to make our fans proud. It’s a great achievement for us to compete at this level, and we want to make the best out of this great opportunity.
“The National Team has been improving a lot in the last couple of years, and going to competing at the World Cup is another proof of our improvement.”
Aminu also confirmed his availability for the World Cup mentioning:
“Yes, that is my goal. I always want to play for the National Team when I am healthy. I have been playing for the National Team for some years now, and it’s something that is very important for me,” before saying: “I am sure it is going to be an amazing experience. China is going to be such a great host and I am sure that everyone is looking forward to be there.”
Photo Credit: FIBA
