SUNBURY (2016 Rio Olympics) - The New Zealand Tall Ferns at last know the road to Rio de Janeiro goes through France. The Executive Committee of FIBA announced this week that the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament will be held in the city of Nantes.

National team coach Kennedy Kereama will gather with the troops for preparations before hitting the court for their first game on 13 June. The WOQT will run until 19 June. Five Olympic berths will be up for grabs at the 12-team event.

We are exited to finally know where the OQT is going to be held! France is a nice part of the world with an incredible amount of history and culture.  Now we are looking forward to who we will meet so we can start preparing ourselves for our opponents in pool play. - Kereama

New Zealand would have qualified directly for the Olympics with a victory over Australia in the 2015 FIBA Oceania Women's Championship. However, the Opals prevailed in both games. The Tall Ferns did show plenty of fight, though, and that bodes well for their attempt to reach Rio.

New Zealand will discover their opponents when the draw for the WOQT is held at the House of Basketball in Mies, Switzerland, on Tuesday 26 January. In addition to the Kiwis and hosts France, there will be Argentina, Belarus, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Korea, Nigeria, Spain, Turkey and Venezuela at the WOQT.

We will be taking it game by game. Every team is a threat and we all have the same goal so you can't afford to take a single possession off or underestimate anyone. To go to Rio would be a tremendous result for us, but we will have to be playing our best and executing our game plans and processes. - Kereama

The Tall Ferns made their Olympic bow in 2000 when Sydney was the host city and then played at the next two Summer Games in Athens and Beijing.

Four years ago, the Tall Ferns played at the WOQT in Ankara, Turkey, but did not claim a berth to the London Games.

FIBA