July 14, 2021

The Nigerian men’s basketball team, D’Tigers paid tribute to the late Nigerian singer Sound Sultan before a pre-Olympic game on Wednesday.

To pay their respects, D’Tigers players wore white t-shirts with the late singer’s image and name printed on them.

Channel Television reports that in addition, the musician was honoured with a moment of silence within the arena.

Earlier in a post, Nigeria Basketball made a post on Instagram describing Sound Sultan as a family member of the team.

“We lost a member of our family this week. D’Tigers will honour the great Sound Sultan with these warmup shirts tonight. RIP. Your legacy will live forever,” the Nigeria Basketball team said in the post on Instagram.

Born Olanrewaju Fasasi, the 44-year-old singer died on Sunday after “a hard-fought battle with Angioimmunoblastic T-Cell Lymphoma”.

He was buried in New Jersey, U.S. on Sunday (the same day he died) according to Muslim rites amidst tears and tributes.

Sound Sultan was a die-hard basketball fan. In Lagos and Nigeria, he aggressively promoted the sport.

In his condolence message to the Fasasi family and the music industry, President Muhammadu Buhari said the singer “was kind, generous, and deeply passionate about issues in the country, which reflected in his music and art, and as an avid basketball fan, he made telling contributions to the development of local basketball in the country.”

Following the demise of the African Basketball League, Sound Sultan teamed up with the Continental Basketball League’s organizers to become a team owner of the Lagos City Stars (2017 champions) and a league entertainment facilitator.