Basketball: Tauranga scores Rio women's qualifier

Tauranga's ASB Arena will host a crucial Women's FIBA Oceania Championship match between the Australian Opals and the New Zealand Tall Ferns in August.

Tauranga's top-class ASB Arena will host one of the most important games for the Tall Ferns ahead of the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Basketball New Zealand has chosen the arena for the Tall Ferns' clash with fierce rivals the Australian Opals on August 17. It is the return leg after the opener in Melbourne on August 15 in the best-of-two Oceania Championships that also serves as the qualifier for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Basketball New Zealand chief executive Iain Potter said there were several factors why ASB Arena was chosen ahead of other venues.

"Tauranga did a great job last year when we had the Tall Blacks and Korea there," Potter said. "The local community, Tauranga City Council and TECT were very supportive of that game and there was a great turnout by the wider regional basketball community. And of course it is a great venue.

"It would be one of the top few facilities like that in the country and something to be very proud of."

Potter said Basketball New Zealand want to do more to promote the women's sport.

"One of the teams is going to the Olympics and one of the teams is going to have to go through the repechage series. The Opals are the No2 team in the world so it is a mountain to climb for our women but they deserve their own space. It is an international series in its own right.

"While we are still restricted in the budget we have available for the programme, providing a stand-alone game is one way of ensuring that they have the attention very much on them that night.

"This will be a chance for Tauranga and the wider Bay of Plenty region to get in behind a very talented bunch of players as they go head to head with one of the premier women's sports teams on the planet. It should be a fun night ... "

Basketball fans will be in for a double treat on August 17 with the final of the FIBA Oceania Under-17 Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament as a curtain-raiser.

The Tall Blacks and Australia clash in the men's Oceania Championships decider in Wellington on August 18, with the U17 Oceania Men's World Cup Qualifying final as curtain-raiser.