Today, Canada opens up the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women in Ankara, Turkey. Canada’s first opponent will be the 19th ranked Mali, which will tip-off today at 2:15 (EDT).

This tournament serves as the final qualifying tournament for women’s basketball in the 2012 London Olympics. In the tournament, there are five final berths with twelve countries competing for the final spots.

Canada has been placed in Group D with France and Mali. In order for Canada to qualify, they will need to place in the top two in their group to make it in to the quarter-finals. If Canada reaches the quarter-finals and win their quarter-final game, they will have earned a berth into the 2012 London Olympics. If Canada were to lose their quarter-final game, they will go into a playoff with the other remaining teams who lost their quarter-final match. The four teams will compete for the final berth into the 2012 London Olympics.

The Canadian Team has been poised and working relentlessly towards getting back into the Olympics. The team inherited, “win the day” philosophy from head coach, Allison McNeill. Instead of looking at qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics, they just want to win each day and by winning each day, they will get reach their ultimate goal… the 2012 London Olympics.

To watch the Canadian Senior Women’s National Team play, all games for the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women will be available to watch onFIBAtv.com. To follow the game via FIBA Live-Stats, click here.

Win the day!

To watch CBC feature on the Canadian Senior Women's Basketball Team, click here.

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