Mali Oust Nigeria at Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022

“It has become clear that given the circumstances created by the government’s decision, the NBBF is unable to confirm its participation in the Fiba Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022,” a statement said.

It added the decision had been taken “given the multiple strict deadlines that cannot be postponed in order to ensure the successful staging of a major international event and to protect the integrity of the competition.”

Mali have been invited to take part instead of Nigeria as they were the next best-ranked team from Group B of February’s qualifying tournament in Serbia.

In May Fiba warned that the government’s move to appoint its own interim committee could lead to Nigerian basketball missing out on playing internationally for more than just two years.

The government withdrawal from all international basketball came after a protracted leadership crisis for control of the NBBF.

The problems began in 2017 when Musa Kida and then-incumbent Tijani Umar emerged as leaders of two factions claiming control of the NBBF after two separate elections.

Issues have continued despite Kida being re-elected as NBBF president in January, a result which was ratified by Fiba in March.