AUS – Australia women gather in Canberra

CANBERRA (2010 FIBA World Championship for Women) – Australia coach Carrie Graf is about to link up with some of her national team hopefuls at a training camp in Canberra ahead of the FIBA World Championship for Women.

Kristi Harrower and Lauren Jackson, starters on the world-title winning side of 2006, will be among the 16 players that gather at the Opals’ training camp which tips off at the Australian Institute of Sport on Saturday.

Liz Cambage, Australia's 18-year-old center, is in the group that will work out with Graf.

The training camp will mark the first time Graf has Jackson, Suzy Batkovic-Brown, Tully Bevilaqua and Harrower training with the national squad since taking over as coach in December 2008.

“I think the fact that we have three of the starters from Beijing (2008 Olympics) in Harrower, Batkovic-Brown and Jackson is a big statement and a positive part of our preparation for the Worlds in September,” Graf said.

“This camp is about re-establishing the things that are critical to the Opals; some of our team themes that have formed the foundation of previous Opals successes and really to put in place some of our systems that will be working with this core group in the lead up to the World Championship.”

Michelle Timms, the long-time national team point guard of Australia who assisted China’s former coach Tom Maher at the Olympics two years ago, is now on Graf’s coaching staff along with Phil Brown and Peter Buckle.

Australia will go up against Belarus, Canada and China in Group A at the FIBA World Championship for Women, which gets underway on September 23 and runs until October 3.

Those Preliminary Round games will be play in Ostrava.

Some of Australia’s leading players, including Olympians Belinda Snell of Ros Casares in Spain and Penny Taylor of Fenerbahce in Istanbul, have club commitments and cannot attend the training camp.

Italy-based Laura Summerton and Jenni Screen, who also played for the Opals at the Olympics in China, are hoping to join the squad in Canberra but may be unable to attend the camp due to flight delays in Europe following the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier volcano.

Australia players at camp: Suzy Batkovic-Brown, Tully Bevilaqua, Abby Bishop, Elizabeth Cambage, Rachael Flanagan, Kristi Harrower, Natalie Hurst, Lauren Jackson, Jenna O’Hea, Elyse Penaluna, Jennifer Screen, Deanna Smith, Laura Summerton, Marianna Tolo, Carly Wilson and Hanna Zavecz.

FIBA