SEN – Confident Senegal ready for battle

DAKAR (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women) – Senegal are in buoyant mood ahead of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for women with national team coach Moustapha Gaye having put a preliminary squad of 18 players through their paces in Dakar.

Senegal, who failed on home soil to seal straight qualification to the Beijing Games after a bitter defeat to Mali at last year’s FIBA Africa Championship, will take on Japan and Latvia in Group A when the qualifying tournament which runs from June 9-15 gets underway in Madrid.

“Everything is going well,” Gaye said to FIBA.com.

“We are excited about the challenge to play in Madrid.”

One of the “Lions of Tiranga”, as the Senegalese are known, is Aya Traore and she admits her team has been preparing for a journey into the unknown.

“Honestly, we do not know much about the opponents, but we acknowledge that both teams are tough to play against,” the 6ft 1in forward said to FIBA.com.

“But we will compete, that’s for sure.”

Gaye has mixed emerging talents with veterans.

Traore, a former college player with the Purdue Boilermakers in Indiana, is among the latter.

The 24-year-old played for Polish outfit CCC Polkowice this season and is one of the few players with international experience in the national squad.

“It is a new experience for some of young players in the team, but I keep telling them that they must work hard,” she said.

Traore says there is much to admire about her national squad.

“We are a team like any other that will be in Spain, not by invitation, but because we earned our presence there,” she said.

“What to expect from us?” she said. “Well, we’re a team that can play and will fight a lot.”

FIBA