Tokyo Olympics: Nwokocha advances to women’s 200m semi-finals, D’Tigress lose final group game to Japan

Team Nigeria’s Grace Nwokocha on Monday in Tokyo at the ongoing 2020 Olympic Games advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s 200 metres event.

Nwokocha ran a personal best of 22.47 seconds to finish third in heat 1 of the event to gain one of the automatic tickets to the semi-finals.

Cote d’Ivoire’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou had won the heat with 22.30, while the Bahamas’ Shaunae Miller-Uibo was second with 22.40.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 20-year-old Nigerian had reached the semi-finals of the women’s 100m event, where she ran an 11.07 on Sunday.

It had only helped her to place fifth in semi-final 3, a result that was not enough for her to move to the final which was ran later in the day.

But this was after she had ran another personal best 11.00 to place third from heat 5 on Saturday in the event’s round one to progress to the semi-finals.

NAN reports that the women’s 200m semi-finals are due for later on Monday, while the final is slated for Tuesday.

Meanwhile Nigeria’s senior women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, on Monday failed to lift their game and consequently succumbed 102-83 to their Japanese counterparts in the basketball event of the ongoing Tokyo Olympics.

D’Tigress’ loss to Japan made it three losses from three games they played in Group B of the women’s competition’s group stage, having lost earlier to the U.S and France.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Japanese team proved too hot for the D’Tigress as they won 30-22 in the first quarter, relying mostly on three-pointers.

They kept the momentum and held on to their strategy of making successful points at the three-point line and working hard on the offensive and defensive ball play.

The second quarter was played with a lot of intensity as D’Tigress worked to keep their heads in the game but unfortunately fell 21-16 to Japan.

Japan also took the third quarter, outscoring D’Tigress 33-19, relying more again on the three-points shots.

By the fourth quarter, when D’Tigress seemed to have overcome their lethargy, winning 26-18, the Japanese who were playing their best game so far in the competition were home and dry.

By then, they had successfully recorded 19 three-points shots to coast home to a great win.

NAN reports that the win meant Japan progressed to the quarterfinals, having won two out of their three group games.

The Nigerian team were making a return to the Olympics since the 2004 edition in Athens, Greece.