By Patrick Omorodion with agency report

World basketball governing body, FIBA has confirmed the withdrawal of Nigeria from the 2022 FIBA Women’s World Cup slated for September in Australia.

FIBA, in a statement it released Thursday said the confirmation followed its inability to extract a confirmation of Nigeria’s change of stand from the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF.

According to FIBA, despite its  communications with and request to the Nigerian federation, “it has become clear that against the circumstances created by the government’s decision, the NBBF is unable to confirm its participation in the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022.”R

It stressed that “given the multiple strict deadlines that cannot be postponed in order to ensure the successful staging of a major international event (visa procedures, schedules, ticket sales, accommodations, friendly games, preliminary rosters, flight tickets, accreditations, etc.) and to protect the integrity of the competition, the FIBA Executive Committee has decided Nigeria’s withdrawal from the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 is confirmed.”

It added that, “Mali, as the next ranked team from Group B of the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade, is invited to participate in the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup. 

It however, said that it will announce whether it will visit Nigeria with  “any other decisions related to the NBBF’s participation in other FIBA competitions and any potential disciplinary measures in due course” .

Vanguard News Nigeria