Olympic Warm Up: Tunisia, Angola Play Great Britain

Great Britain’s men Olympic team will be taking on African champions, Tunisia, before they compete at the London Games as host nation.

In the warm-up schedules announced by British Basketball for the men side, who will again be led by Houston Rockets assistant coach Chris Finch, they are to have a training camp in Houston from 11 June to 30 June, during which they will have two games apiece against Lithuania (23, 29 June) and Russia (25, 27 June).

Back in Europe, the team will also have friendly games at France (7 July) and Spain (9 July) before returning home to the United Kingdom and hosting Portugal in clashes in Sheffield on the 14th and 15th.

Team GB will then go up against defending Olympic and world champions, the United States, in Manchester on 19 July.

Thereafter, Great Britain will travel to Belgium and go up against African champions Tunisia (21 July) and the Belgians (22 July).

“We have a very busy preparation period this year with some tough oppositions, which will provide the best grounding for our side as they head to London,” Finch said.

“We hope that the home crowds will really get behind the guys and spur them on to some great competitive performances.”

Finch’s men rebounded from an 0-3 start at last year’s EuroBasket in Lithuania by winning their last two games but it wasn’t enough to get them into the next phase of the competition.

The team have come a long way since London was awarded the Summer Games, however, winning promotion from Division B and then played at back-to-back EuroBaskets in Poland and the Baltics.

The British women, who are coached by Tom Maher and advanced from the Preliminary Round at the EuroBasket Women 2011 in Poland, have also taken giant strides.

They are to have a training camp in Surrey, England, from 5-25 May.

They will play at Croatia, who are in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) for Women, in games 28-29 May, before moving on to Belgium where they will face Ukraine, Germany and Belgium (1-3 June).

The women’s team’s busy schedule will continue in Sheffield (13-15 July) with games against Angola, Australia and France, which coincides with the men’s warm-up games in the city.

And on 18 July – one day before the men play in Manchester against the USA – the Team GB women will square off at Manchester Arena with the defending Olympic and world champions Americans who are coached by Geno Auriemma.

“We have a critical period together as a team ahead of the Games this summer where we will be able to fully prepare and ensure we put the best team possible out on court when we arrive in Stratford in July,” Maher said.

—Bamidele Olowosagba