Team in focus - Belarus

MINSK (FIBA World Championship for Women) - The 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women is just around the corner. In the lead-up to the biggest international basketball event, we take an individual look at all 16 teams.

Country: Belarus
FIBA bwin Ranking Women: No. 10
Last participation in the FIBA World Championship for Women: 2010 (4 wins, 5 defeats, 4th place)
Best result in the history of the FIBA World Championship for Women: 4th (2010)
Result in qualifying tournament for 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women: 5th place at EuroBasket Women 2013 (5 wins, 4 defeats)

It's been a roller-caster ride during the last eight years for Belarus and that doesn't look set to stop when the action tips-off in Istanbul.

Rising to prominence back in 2007 with their spectacular displays in Italy at EuroBasket Women, Belarus established themselves as an emerging powerhouse nation of the women's game in a blink of an eye.

Their third-place finish in Chieti was followed by an Olympic appearance a year later in Beijing and a run all the way to the Semi-Finals in their first ever appearance at the FIBA World Championship for Women in Czech Republic in 2010.

That represented a high tide mark for Belarus. The wheels came crashing off a year later at EuroBasket 2011, when they made an unexpected early exit which saw their London 2012 hopes also go up in smoke.

It was tough to take for a team that had been riding the crest of a wave for several years. They had proved they had quality via a roster built around the inside power of Yelena Leuchanka, the ice-cool application of Anastasiya Verameyenka, the hugely talented Katsiaryna Snytsina, underrated playmaker Natallia Marchanka, as well as the ever-reliable Tatyana Troina and Marina Kress.

Their run of success had turned the side into the most loved sports team in the nation. But after Poland 2011 and the revered Anatoli Buyalski stepping down from the coaching hot-seat, the future had looked decidedly gloomy.

Yet the roller-coaster would suddenly jolt upwards again, thanks mainly to his Lithuanian replacement, Rimantas Grigas. Against all expectations, he shrugged off retirements, injuries and the loss of some of his biggest names to firstly qualify for EuroBasket Women 2013 in France and then punch another ticket for the World Championship with a solid outing at the tournament.

Moulding some younger players and playing a brand of basketball which reflects something of a necessary pragmatism, rather than the more dynamic style in the halcyon days between 2007 and 2010, Grigas has found a way for his team to both bounce back and attain results.

Only just as things were back on a high note, he was hit with the double whammy of his best player Verameyenka and the rock solid Kress almost simultaneously announcing maternity leave which has ruled them out of a place on the plane to Turkey.

Yet, while some may be tempted to write off Belarus because of their problems in the paint, history has shown that to do so could be decidedly foolish.

Especially when they still have the veteran class of Leuchanka, the game-changing capabilities of Snytsina and a burgeoning talent in Maryia Papova, who was rampant at youth level and made her senior bow at EuroBasket Women 2013.

They also have a real 'X-factor' player in Tatsiana Likhtarovich and with Aliaksandra Tarasava having a breakthrough tournament last year, Belarus could still be very hard to beat and will continue playing some seriously hard-nosed basketball.

FIBA