Veteran D’Tigress shooting guard Sarah Ogoke may soon make her return to competitive play after several months of inactivity, as reported by PUNCH Sports Extra.
The 35-year-old Nigerian has been absent from the national team for approximately a year, having missed the 2024 summer Olympic Games in Paris, France, due to personal circumstances.
The captain, who guided the team to victory at the FIBA Women’s Afrobasket championship in Kigali, Rwanda in 2023, stated at the time of her exclusion from the Olympic roster, “I have not retired; this is not the last you will hear from me in basketball. It was a challenging situation and a difficult choice.”
Following her time away from the game, Ogoke took to her official X account to suggest a possible return.
“Giving birth is hard. Basketball is easy,” she posted, along with several videos of her practising on the court.
Her message suggested that she may have recently given birth, which could explain her extended absence due to personal reasons.
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The former Southern Polytechnic State University graduate in Georgia has had an impressive career with the women’s national team, participating in seven FIBA Afrobasket tournaments since the 2011 edition and securing four titles in 2017 in Mali, 2019 in Senegal, 2021 in Cameroon, and 2023 in Rwanda.
She was also part of the Nigerian team at the 2018 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup held in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, where they advanced to the quarter-finals, and she competed in the summer 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, which took place in 2021. Additionally, the veteran earned a bronze medal at the African Games in Maputo, Mozambique in 2011 and a silver medal at the same event in Brazzaville, Congo in 2015.
