Nwora banks on hard work for World cup ticket

Nwora banks on hard work for World cup ticket By Afolabi Oni Head coach of the men’s national senior basketball team, Alex Nwora is banking on hard work and better team chemistry to improve the chances of his team qualifying for the FIBA 2019 world cup. He made this known after the team narrowly lost to world number 1, United States of America at the weekend in the finals of the PEAK International Invitational Tournament in China. “I am very happy with where we are as a team, I think we can do better. We still have a long way to go to be able to have that type of team to compete with anybody in the world.” Looking ahead of the 2nd round of qualifications between the 14th and 16th of September holding in Lagos, he said more work is required to achieve more. “We have a very good chance, but nothing is cast on stone yet. The more you work, the more confident you become. If we keep doing what we are doing and keep pushing forward, the odds favour us. We will do what we are supposed to do without cutting corners”. Despite amassing maximum points from 6 games and sitting comfortably atop group F, Nwora highlighted availability of players as one of the biggest challenges ahead of the games against Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Central Africa. “We still have to get stronger as a team, unit rotation and also availability of players which is the biggest problem which I hope we will find a way to fix”, Nwora said. With players sealing new contracts and some taking part in the NBA summer league amidst other unforeseen circumstances, Nwora says some new faces are expected to be called up into the team. He’s hopeful that the best available players can be assembled and given enough preparation time to build up team chemistry.