Zitina fires up World Cup bid
TOWNSVILLE Fire recruit Zitina Aokuso was the sole Queenslander selected to represent Australia at the under- 19 Basketball World Cup in Italy next month.
Basketball Australia announced their 12- player squad for the prestigious tournament yesterday, with the Fire- bound centre set to play a huge role for the Gems.
The soon- to- be WNBL rookie was part of the side that qualified for the World Cup by defeating New Zealand in the Oceania qualifier last year, with Aokuso named MVP of the grand final.
“Selection was not easy with the quality of the squad but we are really excited about the depth and versatility of the team,” Gems coach Dee Butler said.
“The team has a wealth of experience underpinned by their development at the CoE ( Centre of Excellence) through their state- based high performance programs while some have previous World Championship involvement.”
The Gems have been drawn into Group D for the tournament and will be aiming to get on the podium for the third straight time after winning bronze medals in 2015 and 2013 while they were also silver medallists in 1997 and gold medallists in 1993.
“We are really looking forward to the exciting challenges in our pre- World Cup tournament in France and then our ultimate objective to medal at the World Cup in Italy,” Butler said.
“We know that we will face strong opposition with a number of the European teams and Japan and Korea as always will be highly skilled and extremely quick.”
Australian Gems squad: Zitina Aokuso, Chloe Bibby, Monique Conti, Abby Cubillo, Ezi Magbegor, Anneli Maley, Lara McSpadden, Rebecca Pizzey, Maddison Rocci, Kiera Rowe, Jazmin Shelley and Samantha Simons.