Basketball New Zealand

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The Olympic gods have smiled on the Tall Ferns and answered coach Mike McHugh’s prayers by delivering a kindly draw for the New Zealand women.

At the official Olympic draw ceremony, held in conjunction with the Good Luck Beijing tournament in China, the Kiwis were placed in a pool that consists of defending champions the USA, hosts China, African champions Mali and two qualifiers yet to be determined.

“I’m not unhappy with this draw,” cautioned McHugh. “It just depends who the qualifiers are.”

Before the draw, he had hoped for both an Asian and African team in his group. Although, McHugh might have preferred Korea to China, the Kiwis have targeted the Asian style as they prepare for the Olympics and came very close to toppling the Chinese only two weeks ago in Ningbo.

They would probably rate their chances higher against the hosts, ranked 10th in the world, than against Australia (second) at full strength or Russia (third) in the other pool.

Importantly, the Ferns have also avoided a third qualifier from a last-chance tournament that is likely to yield five higher ranked teams to fill out the 12-team field. Again, they would prefer to face Mali, ranked 31st in the world, than possibly teams like Brazil (fourth) or Spain (fifth).

To progress to the quarterfinals and match the team’s performance at the 2004 Athens Olympics, the Kiwis will likely have to win at least two pool games.

The women’s Olympic draw is …

Preliminary Round
Pool A
Australia (2)
Korea (7)
Russia (3)
Three qualifiers

Pool B
China (10)
Mali (31)
New Zealand (16)
USA (1)
Two qualifiers

August 9
Qualifier A v Korea
Russia v Qualifier B
Qualifier C v Australia
Qualifier E v China
USA v Qualifier D
Mali v New Zealand

August 11
Korea v Russia
Australia v Qualifier A
Qualifier B v Qualifier C
China v USA
New Zealand v Qualifier E
Qualifier D v Mali

August 13
Australia v Korea
Qualifier C v Russia
Qualifier A v Qualifier B
New Zealand v China
Mali v USA
Qualifier E v Qualifier D

August 15
Korea v Qualifier C
Qualifier B v Australia
Russia v Qualifier A
China v Mali
Qualifier D v New Zealand
USA v Qualifier E

August 17
Qualifier B v Korea
Qualifier A v Qualifier C
Australia v Russia
Qualifier D v China
Qualifier E v Mali
New Zealand v USA