VALMIERA (2011 FIBA U19 World Championships) – Owen Odigie has been flown into Latvia to replace Australian starting small forward Mitchell Norton who last week broke a bone in his foot during a warm up match.

Norton was an integral part of the Emu’s build up, having already been part of the team for two seasons. However, his dreams of representing Australia at the FIBA U19 World Championships were dashed last week when he experienced the break late in a warm up match against Brazil at the Global Games in Lithuania.

X-rays following the game confirmed the worse with Norton now expected to sit on the sidelines for three to five months.

The initial news was not only a big blow to Norton but also his team mates and Coach Damien Cotter. However, Cotter has accepted the setback and is moving on. “Any time you lose a starter, especially of Mitchell’s caliber – it’s always a punch in the nose – but you have to get yourself up and going again. We don’t have a time to wallow in self pity. We gotta get on with it and I feel that the group has done that.”

Cotter is also upbeat about the arrival of Odigie, who joined the team on Tuesday; “We have brought in Owen Odigie who is a different type of player. It’s a change but we are looking at the change as being positive.”

Norton will remain on with the team, doing all he can to help out his mates from the bench where he believes he can see “some things that you might not be able to see on the court so I am just another set of eyes for boys off the bench.”

Australia’s campaign gets underway on Thursday when they take on Argentina at 18:15 (03:15 GMT).

Check out our interview with Mitchell Norton here.

FIBA