By Canadian Press

Canadian women’s qualifier for basketball World Cup to be held February in Osaka

Nov 23, 2021 | 8:12 AM

TORONTO — Canada’s women’s basketball team will play its World Cup qualifying tournament February in Osaka, Japan.

Canada was drawn Tuesday into a group that includes Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Japan, plus eighth-ranked Belarus and No. 27 Bosnia and Herzegovina for the Feb. 10-13 tournament.

The top three teams in the group qualify for the tournament Sept. 22 to Oct. 1, 2022, in Sydney, Australia.

After going unbeaten in Olympic qualifying through March of 2020, the Canadians were eliminated in the preliminary round in last summer’s Olympics.

Neither Belarus nor Bosnia and Herzegovina competed in Tokyo.

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Canada is still without a head coach after Canada Basketball and longtime coach Lisa Thomaidis agreed to part ways after Tokyo.

A qualifying window in February means it’s unlikely NCAA players will be available to play.

The field for the women’s World Cup was reduced to 12 teams for Sydney, down from 16. The men’s tournament has 32 teams.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 23, 2021.

The Canadian Press