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Germany's Leonie Fiebich against Australia
Photo: Marx Vasconcelos/dpa
After their opening victory at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Belem, Brazil, the German basketball players received a lesson against group favorites Australia without the sisters Satou and Nyara Sabally. The team of national coach Lisa Thomaidis lost to the three-time Olympic silver medalists 52:85 (24:54), missed the first match point and has to worry about the race for the ticket to Paris.
Because the hoped-for support didn't come, Serbia beat hosts Brazil (72:65) in the second game on Saturday and thereby prevented their elimination. If the two-time European champions had lost, the German women would have qualified for the summer games for the first time.
Since three teams from the four-man relay receive a starting place, Germany still has its fate in its own hands. With a win on Sunday (midnight CET/MagentaSport) against Brazil, participation in the Olympics would be perfect.
Two days after the important victory over the Serbians, Nyara Sabally was rested against Australia, while star player Satou Sabally had to miss the game due to injury. The Berliner sat on the bench and wore her left arm in a sling.
And the absence of the star players became noticeable and the start was unsuccessful. Only after five minutes did the first points reach 2:8. The “Opals” dominated at will, and it was already clear at half time that there was nothing to gain for the outsiders. The German team's best thrower was once again Leonie Fiebich (12 points).
»Australia is where we want to be. We haven't played against such a caliber for a long time," said Thomaidis: "We had to rotate, pay attention to the minutes with a view to what could be the decisive game."
At the European Championships last year, the selection from the German Basketball Federation (DBB) earned their starting place for the Olympic qualifying tournament with sixth place.
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