Kalu gets ready for last test against China before World Cup

D’Tigress guard Ezinne Kalu thinks Nigeria’s last warm-up match against China will help the team fix their mistakes. They lost two close games to China in a three-game series before the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

The current African champions lost 69-65 to China in their second game on Sunday. They had also lost 70-67 in the first game last Friday. The third and final match is set for Wednesday in Foshan, Guangdong Province.

Kalu, who scored 13 points in Sunday’s loss, said the team is eager to do better in the final test against the Asian champions.

“I’m anxious for the third game because it’s really hard to beat a team three times in a row. It will be a chance for us to fix what we did wrong in the first and second games. The third game will be different,” Kalu said via Xinhua.

On Sunday, D’Tigress led for most of the second game. They were ahead 54-46 going into the last quarter, but China made a strong comeback to win again.

The first half was tightly contested, with 11 lead changes. Nigeria used their strong defense to stay in the game and the score was tied at 33-33 at halftime.

In the final quarter, China came back strong. Tang Ziting hit the first three-pointer for China before another shot from long range tied the game at 54-54.

Zhang Ziyu kept attacking the basket, while Wang Siyu made four important free throws late in the game to secure China’s win.

The last game of the series will give Rena Wakama’s team another chance to challenge themselves against one of the best teams in women’s basketball. This comes before they ramp up their preparations for the World Cup.

After the matches in China, D’Tigress will move on to the third phase of their training in Tenerife, Spain, from August 15 to 24. They will face the hosts and Belgium there.

The fourth phase will also be in Spain, as the team will go to Zaragoza from August 25 to September 3 for final practice games against Mali and Puerto Rico.

Nigeria started their World Cup training in the United States from July 29 to August 2. They then flew to China for their current phase, which runs until August 14.

The seven-time African champions will then travel to Berlin, Germany, for the FIBA Women’s World Cup from September 4 to 13. They are in Group B with Korea Republic, Hungary, and France.