Australian women's basketball coach Carrie Graf has called in the superstars, but also rewarded those who secured Olympic qualification in a preliminary Games squad featuring few surprises.
Lauren Jackson, Penny Taylor and Liz Cambage headline the 24-player squad as expected. But Graf has also kept faith with the best performers in the second-tier outfit which secured Olympic qualification last September, clean-sweeping the Oceania series against New Zealand.
Talls Suzy Batkovic and Abby Bishop, and Hungarian-based small forward Hanna Zavecz have all been included. The three were excellent against the Tall Ferns, while Batkovic and Bishop have been dominant for the Adelaide Lightning this WNBL season.
The Opals' Games preparation starts with a selection camp next month ahead of a training camp in May at the AIS. The final squad will be named in June.
''Six of the athletes are in Europe so they won't be a part of that first selection camp, so it's a really good opportunity for some of those other athletes to show their wares,'' Graf said. AAP
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