23/05/08 DENG EXCITED BY EARLY TRIP TO 2012 VENUE The Great Britain men’s basketball team will be the first to compete in the London Olympiad at a 2012 venue and Chicago Bulls star Luol Deng hopes it will mark the beginning of a golden four years. The O2 arena will play host to the London 2012 basketball finals, but GB’s first trip there will be on September 6 when they take on the Czech Republic. Having gained promotion to EuroBasket Division A last summer, GB are now looking to qualify for next year’s European finals, which would keep them well on track for 2012 qualification. “It really feels like we now have one foot on the ladder to that Olympic dream and hopefully in four year’s time we will be returning in the hunt for medals,” said Deng. “Last summer I was so excited to be pulling on the GB jersey for the first time and this year it gets even better with us heading to London. A number of us in the team are from London which makes this fixture all the more important. “One of things that is often talked about regarding London 2012 is that it offers an opportunity to inspire people and I hope that as a team we can do that over the next four years, starting in London in September. That’s what the Olympics are all about.” From London the men will travel to Birmingham to take on Bosnia and Herzegovina at the National Indoor Arena on September 10 before descending upon the Liverpool Echo Arena three days later to play Israel. With so many affiliations to London, head coach Chris Finch has called for his players to take full advantage of their early trip to the 2012 venue and use it as a springboard for the rest of their campaign. “The O2 arena is a world class sports arena and is fantastic, and now it is our job to show up and be sensational in it,” said Finch. “It is exciting because that is where the Olympic finals will be played so we need to make that our home now. “I really like that we have three games in a row - we have to take advantage of home court. We are going to use our home preparation to try and put us in the best possible position for that Israel game in Liverpool.” The women will play all four of their home games at the Welsh Institute of Sport, starting with Lithuania on August 20 and then Israel (August 27), Ukraine (August 30) and finally Germany (September 10). Head coach Mark Clark believes the consistency will help them develop a good home court advantage. He said: “Playing all our games at one venue should help us to develop a really good atmosphere and hopefully fan base too.”
Tickets for the Great Britain men’s and women’s home games went on sale on Thursday 22 May at 9am, for more information go to www.basketballgb.com
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