THE coast is getting clearer for the race for the Olympic slot as African champions D’Tigress is set to face the US, Belgium and Senegal at the 2024 FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

The draw was held in Hungary on Thursday, October 2023.

The draw put Nigeria’s women’s basketball team in Tournament 2, billed to be held in Antwerp, Belgium, from February 8, 2024.

Nigeria were seeded in Pot 3 due to their 11th-ranked position worldwide.

The qualifying tournament will feature 16 national teams, and the top teams earn a place in the 2024 Summer Olympics basketball tournament.

Ahead of the 2024 Olympics in Paris, there are 10 Olympic tickets available for the women’s national basketball game since France and the US are already assured of their spot.

France secured their spot as the Olympic hosts, while the US was the FIBA Women’s world champions in 2022. But, despite their secured spots in Paris, they will participate in the qualifying tournaments.

The FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments will be held from February 8 to 11, 2024, in four cities, namely Antwerp, Belgium; Belem, Brazil; Sopron, Hungary; and a city to be confirmed in China.

In tournament 1, France is paired with China, New Zealand and the yet-to-be-decided qualifiers from the Americas. In tournament 3, Brazil, Germany, Serbia and Australia will slug it out for a spot at the Olympics.

Meanwhile, Spain, Hungary, Japan and the other qualifiers from the Americas region will hope to pick up one of the tickets from the group.

The teams from the Americas are Canada, Puerto Rico, Colombia and Venezuela.