The FIBA Men AfroBasket 2017 is almost here, with 15 teams attempting to wrestle the title from the hands of D’Tigers, as the Nigerian men basketball side are called.

The odd is on the D’tigers to achieve the success of D’Tigress at the women’s Afrobasket Championship in Mali.

This has brought some added pressure on D’Tigers  to successfully defend the title they won two years ago.

The tournament, being jointly hosted by Tunisia and Senegal, runs from September 8 to 16.

With D’Tigers getting the party rolling with a group A fixture against Ivory Coast at the Salle Omnisport de Rades on September 8.. Mali and D.R Congo.

The likes of Angola, Central Africa Republic, Morocco, Uganda, Tunisia, Guinea, Rwanda, Cameroon, Senegal, Mozambique, Egypt and South Africa  also competing for honours.

D’Tigers have their work cut out for them as they strive for the ultimate prize in the tournament.

Arguably one of the best teams in Africa today, D’Tigers  featured  at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, where they finished last in a tough pool, consisting of Europe’s best sides.

Despite the odds stacked against them, D’Tigers were able to get a victory against the top seeded Croatian team before bowing out of the tournament.

Although they did not have much luck against some of the world’s best teams, the outing will surely put a chip  on their shoulder as they try to pick up from  where they left off and try and win this year’s AfroBasket 2017 tournament.

But if there is one team that D’Tigers would be watching their back for, that must surely be Angola, who have won the most gold medals in the history of the FIBA African Basketball Championships.

They currently hold the record of 11 gold medals. The most recent one was in 2013.

Culled from Vanguard