South African authorities deny Nigerian junior basketball team travelling visa
South African embassy in Nigeria has denied Nigerian U-18 boys basketball team the required visas to travel to that country to compete in an international basketball competition.
Sources attributed to officials of the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF) told reporter that, they were unable to travel to South Africa for the FIBA U-18 competition, owing to visa denials by the South African embassy officials in Nigeria.
The Nigerian boys were scheduled to travel to South Africa for the 2024 FIBA U18 Afrobasket tournament slated to hold in Cape Town .
The Vice Chairman of the Youth Development Committee of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, Ugo Udezue, confirmed that the team could not travel for the competition, due to the visa denials by the South African Consulate at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The tournament dunked off on Tuesday , Nigeria in the fixtures is billed to confront their Egyptian counterparts , in an opening clash.
Ugo Udezue is quoted saying , “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.”
