Nigeria’s Under-18 men’s and women’s basketball teams, the J’Tigers and J’Tigress, will not return to the country as initially scheduled on Monday morning. Their return has been postponed due to a delay with their carrier, Kenyan Airways.
The Head of the Nigerian Delegation to the Afrobasket U18 championship in South Africa, Ugo Udezue, had previously confirmed that the teams were set to arrive by 11am Monday aboard a Kenyan Airways flight.
However, a late update from Kenyan Airways’ Lagos office revealed that the flight’s arrival time had been pushed back by two hours. The exact cause of the delay was not immediately provided.
The teams are now expected to arrive in Lagos at 1:30pm. The J’Tigress, the women’s team, is returning with a ticket to the FIBA U19 World Cup in the Czech Republic from July 12 to 20, 2025. They finished as runners-up, losing to Mali 76-56 in the final.
The J’Tigers, the men’s team, did not advance to the final after being defeated by Mali in the semi-finals. Mali went on to win the championship by defeating Cameroon 60-51. The top two teams from the championship will represent Africa at the upcoming world event.