LAGOS, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) Wednesday said it has invited 15 players for the last window of the 2019 FIBA Men's World Cup qualifiers taking place in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire on Feb. 18.

The team was made up of players who missed out of the last phase of the qualifiers campaign hosted in Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub, the NBBF said in a statement reaching Xinhua.

The Nigerian side will slug it out with host Cote d'Ivoire, Central African Republic and second placed Senegal with 16 points.

Head coach Alex Nwora, whose team is currently ranked 33rd in the world and first in Africa, stressed that D'Tigers hope to finish the campaign on a high note, to boost the team's rating before the World Cup draws.

He said the preparation for the 2019 World Cup in China has started in earnest and it was imperative to give more quality players equal opportunity to fight for shirts.

Meanwhile, the Secretary-General of the NBBF, Chimezie Asiegbu was quoted as saying players and technical crew are expected to fly straight to Abidjan from their clubs for logistics reasons. Enditem

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