Following their debut appearance in the men’s basketball event of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Nigeria’s D’Tigers have climbed up the world rankings and are now ranked 17th in the world.
The team was previously ranked 21st in the world but have now climbed four spots in the rankings.
Although the team only managed to win one of their five matches in London, they were able to defeat top-ten teams like Lithuania and Greece at the Olympic Games qualifying tournament which took place in Venezuela prior to the London Games.
Angola remain Africa’s top ranked side though, occupying the 15th spot despite their failure to qualify for the Olympic Games.
In fact, the London Olympic Basketball Tournament has had a significant impact on the FIBA Rankings for Men and Women with a number of teams making big leaps towards the top.
While the men's top five - USA, Spain, Argentina, Greece and Lithuania - remains unchanged, Russia have moved up five places from 11th to sixth following their bronze medal run in London.
Beaten quarter-finalists France, who fell to eventual finalists Spain, and Brazil, who lost to neighbours Argentina, moved up four places each to stand eighth and ninth respectively.
Africa’s other representative in the men’s tourney, Tunisia also moved up some places, jumping 10 spots, moving from 32nd to 22nd.
Olympic hosts Great Britain made the biggest leap of all, going from 43rd to 23rd, a 20-place improvement.
Meanwhile, for the women, the USA cemented their place as number one in the world with a fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal, while Angola, even though they didn't manage a win in London, improved from 27th in the world to 23rd.
Nigeria’s women’s team, D’Tigress however dropped six spots from their previous 20th position to 26th.
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