After just spending
three minutes at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, D’Tigers star, Shane Lawal is
eager that the city of Lagos should host the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
In an interview with
FIBA website recently, the Michigan-based star believes the city has the capacity
to stage such prestigious tournament.
Lawal, who had
wanted to make impact at his first Olympics in Rio de Janeiro but after just
three minutes against Argentina, Lawal went down with a knee injury that
knocked him out of the tournament.
The 29-year-old had
to watch the rest of Nigeria’s games in a wheelchair.
The disappointment
lingers, but Lawal is already thinking of ways for Nigeria to be a better
basketball nation.
For example, he
wants the city where he spent the first eight years of his life before moving
to Michigan in the United States, Lagos, to host FIBA Basketball World Cup
2023.
“Why not?” he said,
adding, “It’s a great city. I want the World Cup in Lagos. 2023! Let’s make it
happen!”
“We’ve got a lot of
guys with vested interests in making basketball bigger not just in Nigeria, but
in Africa. That would be a great way to do it. Like South Africa for the World
Cup (2010), it would bring so much
basketball to the continent. It would be awesome.”
“When you play for
the land that you were born in and where your parents were born, it pays itself
at the end of the day.” – Lawal
Lawal and Nigeria
have every reason to think big on the court. They’ve become the most exciting,
and successful team on the African continent. D’Tigers, FIBA AfroBasket winners
for the first time last year, climbed nine spots in the FIBA World Ranking to
No. 16 after the Olympics.
They leapfrogged
Tunisia, who rose two spots to No. 21, and Angola, who fell eight spots to No.
23. Nigeria’s ranking is impressive, yet it’s not the one that Lawal wants.
Lawal loves playing
for his country. “When you play for your club, you’re playing for money,” he
said. “You’re playing for other people. You’re a mercenary. But when you play
for the land that you were born in and where your parents were born, it pays
itself at the end of the day. And to do something to help my country become
better, to have the opportunity, it hurts not to be able to help your brothers,
it hurts.” Thenation
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