Preparations ramp up for pair’s Opals squad
The Australian Opals, featuring Flames pair Tess Madgen and Lauren Nicholson, are currently ramping up preparations for this month’s FIBA Women’s Asia Cup with a training camp in Sydney
The squad is converging in Sydney from June 18 to 23 and is being put through its paces by coach Shannon Seebohm ahead of the home tournament, which tips off on June 26.
With Australian head coach Sandy Brondello currently leading New York Liberty in the WNBA, Seebohm has taken the reigns of the Opals for the first time.
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“This camp is really critical for us, we had the camp straight after the WNBL season with Sandy there and haven’t really seen the girls since then,” he said.
“It’s a chance to make sure we sharpen up all the things we need to, put all the offensive and defensive schemes in that we’re going to use for the tournament and also start to get a bit of a feel as well for the group, who’s going to play well with who, who we need to be selecting and all those types of things.
“So, it’s fairly short but it’s going to be pretty intense and I think really important we do a good job with doing everything we can to be as prepared as possible for the games.”
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Top of Group B, the Opals face the Philippines on the opening night of the tournament, Chinese Taipei 24 hours later then third-ranked Japan on Wednesday.
Thursday is a rest day before finals begin on Friday with medal games completing the tournament on Sunday, July 2.
World Cup silver medallist China headlines Group A which also features Korea, New Zealand and Lebanon.
The Opals claimed a bronze medal at the last FIBA Asia Cup in Jordan in 2021.
Buy tickets to watch the Sydney duo at the home of the Flames, Quaycentre, here