The Australian Opals have named Sami Whitcomb as captain for the FIBA Women’s World Cup qualifying tournament in Serbia, set to tip-off tonight (Thursday) at 10pm AEDT.
After leading the FIBA Asia Cup team to a bronze medal in 2021, Whitcomb’s leadership on the court did not go unnoticed to the likes of Coach Sandy Brondello, the high-performance team and fellow Opals teammates.
At 33 years old, the New York Liberty and Perth Lynx shooting guard is excited about what the Opals can offer this year.
“I’m honoured to have been selected to lead this team once again. We have a really special group so a huge year ahead of us.” Whitcomb said.
“There’s a rich history of being an Opal, there’s a sisterhood there and that’s something that we’ve really tried to highlight again. It’s really important to this group and means a lot for so many.”
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Straight into the qualifying tournament on the back of an intense Opals selection camp in Sydney, Whitcomb knows that although the team has already qualified for the World Cup, real game time couldn’t have come at a better time.
“The selection camp coming into Belgrade was really critical for us, we were on the court every day, working really hard building that chemistry. There are some areas that we want to focus on improving in, defensively.”
“Mentally we know what we need to do and physically we’ve been doing that so it’s just about execution now.”
In the spirit of reconciliation Basketball Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.