The South African Consulate in Abuja has denied players of the Nigerian U-18 boys’ basketball team visas to participate in the 2024 FIBA U18 Afrobasket tournament.
The tournament is scheduled to take place in Cape Town from December 14 to 22.
Confirming the development to newsmen, the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF) frowned at the sudden denial of visas, which they claimed was done without explanation.
The Vice Chairman of the Youth Development Committee of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, Ugo Udezue, described South Africa’s actions as total sabotage.
“First of all, it’s rather unfortunate that an African country needs a visa to travel to another African country. Secondly, this is against the spirit of sportsmanship. These kids have sacrificed too much for a visa consular officer to deny them the opportunity to represent Nigeria globally.
The act of refusing the team visas seems like a deliberate attempt to stop the Junior D’Tigers, as the South African Embassy in Lagos cleared the girls to travel, and they are already in Pretoria and set for their opening match against Egypt on Tuesday,” Udezue said.
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