Basketball: Daly to lead Tall Ferns' Olympic bid

WELLINGTON - Kirsten Daly, who made her first international appearance 15 years ago as a 17-year-old, will captain New Zealand's first women's Olympic basketball team in Sydney in September.

Also included in the 12-strong team, confirmed by the New Zealand Olympic Committee yesterday, are double internationals Donna Loffhagen and Belinda Colling.

Loffhagen retained her place in the Silver Ferns netball team, named last week to play Australia next Tuesday, but former captain Colling, coming back from recent knee surgery, missed out.

After a four-year absence from the national programme, 37-year-old Leone Patterson has been recalled to the Tall Ferns.

The former captain is now based in San Francisco.

Hard work has paid off for Waikato's Tania Brunton, who has battled back from major knee surgery in 1997 to secure her Olympic spot.

Megan Compain, who became the first New Zealand woman to secure a contract with the women's National Basketball Association in the US in 1997, will add her vast experience to the New Zealand line-up.

The four players involved in the three-game series against Slovakia last week to miss out on a trip to Sydney are Lisa Pardon and Jodi Tini, both of Hamilton, Nelson's Nicki Thompson and Aneka Kerr, from Victoria Country.

In their build-up to Sydney, the Tall Ferns will play Brazil and Canada in Australia in August.

The Tall Ferns also hope to host the Cuba team in July.

.5New Zealand women's basketball team: Kirstin Daly (captain, Taranaki), Gina Farmer (Tasmania), Sally Farmer (Auckland), Rebecca Cotton (Wellington), Donna Loffhagen (Otago), Tania Brunton (Waikato), Leanne Walker (Waikato), Julie Ofsoski (Queensland), Leone Patterson (United States), Dianne L'Ami (Taranaki), Belinda Colling (Otago), Megan Compain (Wellington).

- NZPA

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