London 2012: Canadian women’s basketball team beats Japan to earn berth at Summer Games
Canada defeats Japan on Canada Day to earn a berth into the 2012 London Olympics! Congrats ladies! #proud #wintheday twitter.com/CanBball/statu…
— Canada Basketball (@CanBball) July 1, 2012
With a 71-63 victory over Japan in the fifth place classification game of the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women in Turkey, Canada secured the very last berth in the 2012 Summer Olympics. The list of teams competing in the Summer Games include:
- Angola
- Australia
- Brazil
- Canada
- China
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- France
- Great Britain
- Russia
- Turkey
- USA
Canada earned the win on Canada Day, the country’s national holiday. Former Vermont player Courtnay Pilypaitis (Orleans, ON) led Canada with 21 points and six assists. Teresa Gabriele (Mission, BC) added 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists. The last time the Canadian women played basketball in the Olympics was 2000 in Sydney. Gabriele is the only player on the current team who competed on the previous Team Canada squad.
Olympic teams are divided into two groups:
Group A: Czech Republic, Angola, USA, Croatia, Turkey, China
Group B: Russia, France, Australia, Great Britain, Brazil, Canada
(order of teams determined by way of draw)
The preliminary round of Olympic basketball competition begins Saturday, July 28 and ends August 12. Games will be held at the Olympic Basketball Arena and the North Greenwich Arena.
