GBR - Busy warm-ups for Olympic-bound British teams

LONDON (Olympics) - Great Britain's men and women will be taking on some of the best teams in the world before they compete at the London Games as the host nation.

British Basketball have announced warm-up schedules for both of their Olympic sides.

The men, who will again be led by Houston Rockets assistant coach Chris Finch, are to have a training camp in Houston from 11 June to 30 June, during which they will have two games apiece against Lithuania (23, 29 June) and Russia (25, 27 June).

Back in Europe, the Brits will also have friendly games at France (7 July) and Spain (9 July) before returning home to the United Kingdom and hosting Portugal in clashes in Sheffield on the 14th and 15th.

Team GB will then go up against defending Olympic and world champions, the United States, in Manchester on the 19th of July.

Great Britain will travel to Belgium and go up against African champions Tunisia (21 July) and the Belgians (22 July).

"We have a very busy preparation period this year with some tough opposition which will provide the best grounding for our side as they head to London," Finch said.

"We hope that the home crowds will really get behind the guys and spur them on to some great competitive performances."

Finch's men rebounded from an 0-3 start at last year's EuroBasket in Lithuania by winning their last two games but it wasn't enough to get them into the next phase of the competition.

The team has come a long way since London was awarded the Summer Games, however, winning promotion from Division B and then playing at back-to-back EuroBaskets in Poland and the Baltics.

The British women, who are coached by Tom Maher and advanced from the Preliminary Round at the EuroBasket Women 2011 in Poland, have also taken giant strides.

They are to have a training camp in Surrey, England, from 5-25 May.

They will play at Croatia, who are in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) for Women, in games 28-29 May, before moving on to Belgium where they will face Ukraine, Germany and Belgium (1-3 June).

Maher's squad will have clashes in Edinburgh 9-10 June against Canada and then fly to Turkey and take on the Turks (15-17 June), who are hosting the OQT for Women.

Turkey beat the Brits at the EuroBasket Women.

The Czech Republic women will warm up for the OQT with games against Maher's team 19-20 June and then from 2-4 July, Maher will return to China - the national team he coached at the Beijing Olympics - to coach Britain in friendly games against Angola, Russia and the Chinese.

The women's team's busy schedule will continue in Sheffield (13-15 July) with games against Angola, Australia and France, which coincides with the men's warm-up games in the city.

And on 18 July - one day before the men play in Manchester against the USA - the Team GB women will square off at Manchester Arena with the defending Olympic and world champions Americans who are coached by Geno Auriemma.

"We have a critical period together as a team ahead of the Games this summer where we will be able to fully prepare and ensure we put the best team possible out on court when we arrive in Stratford in July," Maher said.

FIBA