The Tall Blacks' chances of qualifying for the Olympics have
suffered a major blow, with captain Kirk Penney today
announcing his withdrawal from the campaign due to injury.
Corey Webster was sent home from the Tall Blacks tour of
Australia after failing a drug test for taking a synthetic
form of cannabis, his club team the New Zealand Breakers
revealed today.
Mark Dickel will be available to play for the Tall Blacks in
their must-win Olympic basketball qualifier against Australia
on Friday night in Brisbane.
The New Zealand men's basketball team have completed their
build up to the Oceania Olympic qualifying series against
Australia next month on a high with an 85-78 win over Ukraine
at the Istanbul Cup in Turkey.
New Zealand came close to causing a major upset when they
battled last year's world championship runners-up Turkey down
to the wire in an Adidas Cup basketball tournament match in
Istanbul this morning.
New Zealand have scored their second upset win in as many
days, downing Angola 73-70 to advance to the final of the
Stankovic Cup international men's basketball tournament in
Guangzhou, China.
The New Zealand men's basketball team have pulled of a top
win over China in the Stankovic Cup tournament at Beijing
with a 89-69 upset over the tournament hosts.
