According to Lucas Radbourne of The Women’s Game on Friday, Sydney is set to host the 2022 FIBA Basketball Women’s World Cup. The event is set to take place in September and October two years from now. A bid from Australia beat a bid from Russia.
This will be the second time in the history of the tournament that Australia will be the host. Australia previously hosted the tournament in 1994 with the championship final taking place at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Brazil won the championship as they defeated China 96-87 in the gold medal game. Hortencia Marcari of Brazil led the tournament with 27.6 points per game and had a team high 27 points in the gold medal game.
Once before Australia has won the FIBA Basketball Women’s World Cup. That took place in 2006 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In the championship game, Penny Taylor of Melbourne scored a game high 28 points as Australia defeated Russia 91-74. Meanwhile Lauren Jackson of Albury led the tournament in scoring with 21.3 points per game.
Australia and Brazil are two of four nations to have won the gold medal at the FIBA Basketball Women’s World Cup. The other two nations are the United States (10 titles) and the Soviet Union (six titles). The United States have won the last three FIBA Basketball Women’s World Cup events. They defeated the Czech Republic 89-69 in the Czech Republic in 2010, Spain 77-64 in Turkey in 2014 and Australia 73-56 in Spain in 2018.
Overall, Australia has won five medals at the FIBA Basketball Women’s World Cup. In addition to their gold medal in 2006 and silver medal in 2018, they won the bronze medal in 1998, 2002 and 2014. In 1998 in Germany, Australia defeated Brazil 72-67 in the bronze medal game. In 2002 in China, Australia beat South Korea 91-63 for third place and in 2014 in Turkey, Australia beat Turkey 74-44 to win bronze.
Australia’s top player at the moment is Liz Cambage of Melbourne. The center who plays for the Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA led the 2018 FIBA Basketball Women’s World Cup in points per game (23.8) and blocks per game (2.8).
