TheCable

Ahead of the 2018 Commonwealth Games, D’Tigers coach Abdulrahman Mohammed is counting on a depleted group of death.

Host country Australia, Canada, and New Zealand are in the same group as Nigeria.

Abdulrahman, an assistant coach in the national team headed by Alex Nwora, said: “We have played those teams in the past at that same level of competition.”

The head coach of Gombe Bulls said the competition is not on the FIBA calendar, and as such, most players in the NBA and leagues across Europe will not be released.

He believes this factor will give Nigeria an edge in the tournament.

“Most times especially at this period, they don’t always have their best players available for that kind of tournament and we are counting on this same factor this time around.

“We feel that what we have right now are good enough to go and face the category of players they are going parade at this level of the competition because of the timing in terms of NBA and Europe based players who are busy with their clubs.

The Commonwealth Games will take place between April 4 and 15.