Australian Boomers at World Championships
The Golden Star Australian Boomers are about to suit up for the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey which runs from August 28- September 12. The team enters the tournament ranked 11th on the world.
The Boomers will be playing in the preliminary round in group A where they will be facing Angola, Argentina, Germany, Jordan and Serbia. Group A teams will play in the Turkish city of Kayseri, which is in the middle of the country and has a population of almost 1.2 million people.
The Boomers have had a good preparation in the lead-up to the championships going 9-1 in a series of international tournaments. Unfortunately for the Boomers they will be playing without NBA star Andrew Bogut who is not ready to play after injuring his elbow earlier this year. Also missing is Nathan Jawai who plays for Partizan Belgrade.
They played three games against Argentina in June in Australia, and the Boomers swept the South Americans to take all three games.
The Boomers also played in the Stankovic Continental Cup which was held in Liuzhou, China. They played against Slovenia, Iran and home team China. After beating all three teams in the preliminary round, they were eventually defeated in the final game by Slovenia.
The Boomers finished their world titles tune-up at the Villeurbanne International Tournament in Lyon, France where they played three games against France, Ivory Coast and Brazil. The Boomers swept all three games to finish the tournament undefeated.
The Boomers will be looking to improve on their efforts in the 2006 FIBA World Championships in Japan, where Australia finished tied in ninth position out of 24 teams (note: teams placed 9th to 16th did not playoff for final positions).
The Boomers‘ highest ever finish at a World Championship was fifth, achieved twice (in 1982 and 1994).
The event website for the 2010 FIBA World Championship is located at:
http://turkey2010.fiba.com/eng
The Australian men’s basketball team starts their campaign against Jordan on Saturday 28th August.
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