SQUADS ANNOUNCED FOR FIBA UNDER-17 OCEANIA CHAMPIONSHIPS

Competing in Noumea, New Caledonia between August 19-24, the Australian teams will be aiming to finish in the top two of the tournament to advance them to next year’s Under-18 Asian Championships which will give them the opportunity to qualify for the 2021 Under-19 World Cup.

All 43 athletes will attend a three-day camp at Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence from June 21-23 from which two teams of 12 will be selected to represent Australia in New Caledonia.

The selected athletes were chosen following the conclusion of the 2019 Australian Under-18 Championships as well as their accomplishments in State Performance Program (SPP) events and Australian Development Camps.

Five players in the women’s squad are coming off a gold medal at the Under-18 Championships with Vic Metro’s Leia Hanafin, Keeley Evans, Charlise Dunn, Gemma Potter and Emily Sewell all named while silver medalists with QLD South, Kate Deeble, Georgia Woolley and Grace Ellis have also been included.

Deeble, Dunn, Shaniece Swain, Paige Price and Millie Prior also provide international experience having competed at last year’s FIBA Under-15 Oceania Championships where Dunn and Price were named to the All-Star Five.

The men have significant experience at the international level as well with Tamuri Wigness and Blake Jones representing Australia at last year’s FIBA Under-17 World Cup while Wigness was joined by Paul Tsapatolis at the 2018 FIBA Under-16 Asian Championships.

Tsapatolis claimed gold at the Australian Under-18 Championships last month alongside Leyi Adebayo, Josh Giddey and Zac Taylor.

They got the better of SA Metro’s Ethan Bryan, Lewis Rowe, Sebastian Griffin and Ben Griscti in the final while NSW Metro’s Biwali Bayles, Clancy Bird and Ryan Abbott won the bronze medal.

The Australian men’s and women’s squads for the 2019 FIBA Under-17 Oceania Championships:

MEN’S SQUAD	STATE	WOMEN’S SQUAD	STATE
Ryan Abbott	New South Wales	Amy Cotton	South Australia
Leyi Adebayo	Victoria	Kate Deeble	Queensland
Taran Armstrong	Tasmania	Charlise Dunn	Victoria
Biwali Bayles	New South Wales	Grace Ellis	Queensland
Clancy Bird	New South Wales	Keeley Evans	Victoria
Ethan Bryan	South Australia	Leia Hanafin	Victoria
Josh Giddey	Victoria	Sharn Haywood	Tasmania
Sebastian Griffin	South Australia	Kitty Henderson	New South Wales
Ben Griscti	South Australia	Chloe Hodges	South Australia
Josh Hunt	Western Australia	Ruby-Belle MacDonald	New South Wales
Blake Jones	Queensland	Jade Melbourne	Victoria
Dan Rogers	Western Australia	Isabelle Morgan	New South Wales
Lewis Rowe	South Australia	Gemma Potter	Victoria
Patrick Ryan	Victoria	Paige Price	Victoria
Lucas Schmidt	Queensland	Millie Prior	New South Wales
Zak Simons	New South Wales	Kelsey Rees	South Australia
Reyne Smith	Tasmania	Portia Size	South Australia
Zac Taylor	Victoria	Emily Sewell	Victoria
Paul Tsapatolis	Victoria	Shaniece Swain	Queensland
Kane Waters	Western Australia	Georgia Woolley	Queensland
Tamuri Wigness	Queensland

The selection process for the 2021 FIBA Under-19 World Cup has begun with the announcement of the men’s and women’s squads for the 2019 FIBA Under-17 Oceania Championships this August.