BRA - Barbosa defines the 12 players for FIBA World Championship

SAO PAULO (FIBA World Championship for Women) – - Adrianinha, Alessandra, Cíntia Santos, Êga, Érika, Helen Luz, Iziane, Janeth, Karen, Kelly, Micaela and Silvia Cristina. These are the 12 players coach Antônio Carlos Barbosa selected to play the 15th World Basketball Championship, which will be held between September 12-23, in Brazil, in the Ibirapuera Gymnasium, São Paulo, and the José Corrêa Multisports Gymnasium, in Barueri. Brazil, which is in group B, headquartered in Ibirapuera, will first play this coming Tuesday (at 15:15h, Brasília time) against Argentina. Following, it will face Korea (13) and Spain (14).

"Palmira did a good job in the national team, but she is young and should recover well. We are calling Karen, who has the same characteristics as Palmira’s. She is a very good defender, has the same age and can also help organize the attack. In addition, she is fully adapted to the group and is quite familiar with our work," explained Barbosa.

"Palmira has a chronic ischial myotensitis on the right side. She is recovering well but due to the intense practices and immediacy of the competition, there will not be time for her to play the World Championship. That is why we chose to spare her, who needs three weeks of rest and continuous medication," explained the doctor of the Brazilian team, Dr. Carlos Eduardo Marques.

Brazilian team

ATHLETE POSITION AGE HEIGHT (m) CLUB
Alessandra pivot 32 2,00 Woori Bank Hansae (Korea)
Adrianinha point/guard 27 1,70 - -
Cíntia Santos pivot 31 1,94 Le Schio Club (Italy)
Êga pivot 28 1,87 Limpol / São Caetano (SP)
Érika pivot 24 1,97 Valencia (Spain)
Helen Luz point guard 33 1,76 Rivas Futura (Spain)
Iziane forward 24 1,81 Seattle Storm (WNBA)
Janeth forward 37 1,82 - -
Karen forward 22 1,75 FIO/Pão de Açúcar/Unimed/Ourinhos (SP)
Kelly pivot 26 1,92m Santo André (SP)
Micaela forward 27 1,80 MTK Polfa Pabiance (Poland)
Sílvia Cristina forward 24 1,83 Ponte Preta (SP)

Brazil X USA

On the eve of its opening game against Argentina for the World Championship on Tuesday, Brazil played a 30-minute training game against the United States in the Pinheiros Gymnasium and lost by 73-53. The 20-point difference was built mainly in the first quarter (27-13).

"We entered the court in a training pace while the Americans entered it in a real-game pace. When we decided to really play, we got close in the score (21-16 and 25-24 for the United States in the second and third quarters). Our defense was not bad at all and the attack created several opportunities, which is a quite good sign in a training game," commented Barbosa, who asked for more attention in finalizing the plays.

The leading scorer of the game was Iziane, with 19 points. The forward who plays Seattle Storm in the WNBA stated that Brazil showed too much respect for the opponent.

"We waited to see how they would behave on the court. When we lost the respect we played evenly with them. It was a good game," said Iziane.

The U.S. coach Anne Donovan also like what she saw. For her, her team will have to adapt to two important absences – the pivots Lisa Leslie and Yolanda Griffith, who did not come to Brazil for the Championship.

"Our team is smaller now. The group has to be strong and react. The absences affected us, but we showed in this training against Brazil that we are focused in the competition," stated Donovan

www.fiba2006brazil.com