Late on Tuesday, the medal-seeking Canadian women’s basketball team was revealed. This included three current WNBA players on the roster. This team will now look to win their first-ever medal in the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.
Canadian Women’s Basketball Team Roster Revealed
Canada’s 🇨🇦 Tokyo 2020 women’s basketball team announced.
Read more: https://t.co/5SWX4Q0Maa #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/ihGdYxVBBV
— Canada Basketball (@CanBball) June 30, 2021
The Canadian Women’s basketball team roster of 12 players was announced. Ten of these 12 players come from the province of Ontario, which includes Kia Nurse, who was born in Hamilton.
She currently plays point guard for the Phoenix Mercury. Nurse also made the WNBA All-Star Game in 2019 and also won the WNBA championship two times.
There are also other WNBA players on the 12-player roster. This includes power forward Natalie Achonwa and small forward Bridget Carleton of the Minnesota Lynx. Unfortunately, Achonwa suffered a knee injury that might prevent her from participating in the Olympics according to Steven Loung of Sportsnet.
The 12-player roster also consists of former WNBA players. This includes center Kayla Alexander and small forward Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe.
One player that may not play in the Olympics is shooting guard Kim Gaucher. There’s the possibility Gaucher won’t be allowed to breastfeed her son in Tokyo, though she has filed a request. The information is provided by Michael Grange of Sportsnet. This is what Gaucher said in Grange’s article:
“It’s so hard to understand the logic when you see spectators are being allowed and media being allowed and sponsors that are going and you’re just asking, ‘why, as a breastfeeding mother, cannot I have my child there?’”
If Gaucher’s request is rejected, she may not be able to participate in the Tokyo Olympics. This would be a huge blow for Team Canada and also for gender equality.
Canada Basketball Team Roster Overview
Meet the 🇨🇦 women's basketball team that has their 👀 on the @Tokyo2020 podium:
• 6 players will make their Olympic debut 🙌
• 3 players are heading to their 2nd Olympic Games 💪
• 3 players will be at their 3rd Olympics 🤩⛹️♀️ into the details ➡️ https://t.co/oMsr8vRQ9N pic.twitter.com/laxgvIzFYO
— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) June 29, 2021
Canada will have a mixture of experienced and young players on the team. The FIBA game is different than the WNBA game. However, a lot of these players have experience in the FIBA game.
Their third-straight Olympics will start later this month in July. Canada’s group contains Serbia, Spain, and South Korea. The top two teams from the group will make it to the knockout stage. The third-place team could also make the knockout stage. However, they would need to be one of the best two third-place teams in the group stage in order to advance to the knockout stage.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
