Lagos — The Nigerian Under-18 national female team late Sunday defeated their opponents from Guinea 70-61 as the African championship started in Tunisia on the same date.

The Nigerian team got to the match venue barely 24hours before their match as they suffered delay at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos as their airline kept their on the wait for two days. The ladies, however, benefited from a delayed start to the competition as about three other participating countries were also stranded in other airports across the continent.

"Thank God they eventually got there before their scheduled game. The airline delayed them but they did not get in touch with us until very late as they were hoping they would leave the next moment until it nearly became impossible to meet the competition timetable," Mr. Francis Gbiri, the Secretary General of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) told THISDAYSports.

Nigeria is one of the 12 African countries featuring in the competition that will produce the continent's representatives to the FIBA World Championship holding next year. Three teams will represent Africa in the maiden world event.

The Nigerian squad is made up largely of the Benue State team that won the national U-18 competition held in Kano in the second quarter of the year.

The Nigerian team is being managed by Coach Andrew Isokpehi who is also the coach of Sunshine Angels in the national Zenith Bank League.