Canada women resume Olympic preparations in Edmonton
TORONTO (Rio 2016 Olympic Games) - Canada's women, their confidence buoyed by four wins in five games on a recent tour of Europe, start a "phase 2" camp in Edmonton, Alberta, on Thursday as they continue
TORONTO (Rio 2016 Olympic Games) - Canada's women, their confidence buoyed by four wins in five games on a recent tour of Europe, start a "phase 2" camp in Edmonton, Alberta, on Thursday as they continue building up to the Rio de Janeiro Games.
At the camp, Canada will take on fellow Olympic side China in games on the 9th, 10th and 11th of July in the Edmonton Grads International Classic.
China revealed themselves to be a very good team when they defeated Belarus in the Quarter-Finals of the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament (WOQT) earlier this month. It was the first loss for a European team in a Quarter-Final at the last three WOQTs, although Belarus later beat Korea in the Fifth-Place Game to also qualify for Rio.
Eighteen players are now contending for a spot in the Canada side that will compete in Brazil.
| Canada 18-player squad for Rio 2016 Olympic Games | |||
| Natalie Achonwa | Miranda Ayim | Adut Bulgak | Bridget Carleton |
| Laura Dally | Nirra Fields | Kim Gaucher | Ruth Hamblin |
| Miah-Marie Langlois | Lizanne Murphy | Kia Nurse | Katherine Plouffe |
| Michelle Plouffe | Emily Potter | Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe | Tamara Tatham |
| Shona Thorburn | Jamie Weisner | ||
Edmonton, where the team will remain until 12 July, brings back very good memories for the Canadians as it was there that they went unbeaten at the 2015 FIBA Americas Women's Championship and qualified for the Olympics.
Canada expect to turn it up a notch in this phase of the warm-up period with the Olympic competition tipping off in just over a month.
"We made very good progress in phase 1 re-connecting our national team athletes and assessing our senior team and systems," said Denise Dignard, the director of women's high performance at Canada Basketball. "We look forward to hosting China in these important pre-Rio exhibition games."
WNBA commitments will prevent Natalie Achonwa (Indiana), Adut Bulgak (New York) and Jamie Weisner (Connecticut) from taking part in the Edmonton camp.
Canada's Olympic roster will be announced during phase 3 of training camp, which gets underway 22 July in Toronto. Before heading for Rio, Canada take part in the USA Basketball Showcase with France, Australia and the United States.
FIBA