SPAIN PAIN DRIVES BOOMERS: BOGUT

BBASKETBALL: Andrew Bogut has declared ththe heartbreakb of Spain denying the Boomers a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics still “hurts” but it will only motivate his charges to beat their European rivals in tonight’s World

Cup semi-final.

The Australians have been smarting for the past three years after the Spanish defeated them by one point in the third-place game.

Bogut says the pain of the Rio defeat will be in the players’ minds when they take on Spain in Beijing tonight (6pm AEST) for a place in the World Cup final.

“We remember that game – we’ve held that for three years,” Bogut said after the Aussies beat the Czech Republic 82-70 in their quarter-final.

“It would’ve been our first chance at a medal, and we’ve held on that, spoke about it numerous times, and it still hurts today.

“But we have a chance to salvage that ... we’ll see how we go.”

In a further boost for the Boomers, France knocked Team USA out of the World Cup with a susurprisei 889-79 win in their quarter-final to leave the race for Cup glory wide open.

Bogut was asked about the American’s shock exit but he quickly deflected the to focus on Australia’s quest for a first medal.

From his NBA and international basketball experiences, the veteran big man knows you can’t become too complacent.

“I learned a long time ago, especially in Rio, if you look ahead in these tournaments, you shoot yourself in the foot,” he said.

“We have one target and one target only, and that’s trying to win the next game and get to the final.

“This is the kind of game we would’ve lost years ago as part of the national team.

“We thought we accomplished something coming into a game like this, and we would’ve squandered it. Professional win by us, but we’ve got a lot more work to do.”

Spain advanced to the semi-finals with a 90-78 win over Poland while Argentina set up a semi-final date with France after downing

Serbia 97-87. — Matt Logue