Preparations are gearing up as Australia gets ready to host the FIBA Women's World Cup later this year, and now Ezi Magbegor and Shyla Heal have been named as the first members of the event’s Playmaker Program.
The program will be looking to a few influential Australians to highlight and bring attention to the sport as a lead-in to the women's tournament in September.
Magbegor and Heal will join their Australian Opals teammates in a training camp this week in an effort to be selected for the FIBA Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournaments this month. The Opals being their campaign with games in Serbia between Feb. 10-13, in one of four Qualifying Tournaments held across the globe, as nations battle it out for a final ticket to the World Cup in Sydney.
Magbegor stressed how much the program selection means to her.
"It is a huge honour to be part of the Playmakers Program for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup here in Sydney, Australia later this year," she said. "Any way that I am able to help grow the game is special. So to have an event that will be played in front of a home crowd is really exciting.”
Despite being just 20 years old, Heal has already represented Australia for several years at the Under 19 and Under 17 World Cups, including being named to the Tournament All-Star five.
“It is an honour to team up with the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2022," she said. "It's going to be such a special event, a festival for not just the very best basketball in the world, but a celebration of the very best in women's sport more broadly. I will be doing everything I can to raise awareness and excitement for the tournament, and as a player, I will be doing my very best to hopefully be selected for the team. It would be a dream come true and a once in a lifetime experience to represent Australia at a World Cup on home soil.”
The FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup will be held from Thursday 22 September to Saturday 1 October 2022 at Sydney Olympic Park in Sydney, Australia.
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