Rio 2016: Nigeria’s D’Tigers drawn in the group of death

The D’Tigers of Nigerian who are the African champions have been drawn in the group of death at the men’s basketball tournament of the 2016 Olympics Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The African champions have been drawn alongside 2012 finalist Spain, 2012 semi-finalists Argentina as well as Brazil and Lithuania – who both reached the quarter-finals in London and a yet to be decided qualifier will complete the group.

Defending champions United States have been pitted against Australia in the group stage of the men’s basketball tournament at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

A star-studded USA team defended their Olympic title in London in 2012 with a 107-100 win over Spain, beating Australia in the quarter-finals en route to the gold medal game.

And the likes of Steph Curry, LeBron James and Kevin Durant will face Australia in their third group game in what could be a potentially tricky clash against a team also set to feature a host of NBA stars, including Andrew Bogut, Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova.

The USA open the tournament on August 6 versus China and have also been drawn alongside Venezuela and two as yet undetermined qualifiers.

Meanwhile, the women’s draw sees the USA take on Canada, Senegal, Serbia and two qualifiers in Group B as they bid to retain the title.

Group A is comprised of Australia, Brazil, Japan and three qualifiers.