LEEDHAM IN GB RETURN

Jo Leedham and Temi Fagbenle return to Great Britain’s squad for November’s opening EuroBasket Women qualifiers.

The 20-strong initial roster also includes their fellow Olympian Stef Collins, Chantelle Handy, Azania Stewart, Rachael Vanderwal, and Dominique Allen but there is no place for the injured Janice Monakana or Leicester forward Erin McGarrachan.

The group will meet in Manchester ahead of the visit of Israel to the National Basketball Performance Centre on Saturday November 11.

Britain then travel to northern Greece where they will face their first away game at the 4,000-capacity Kozani Arena on Wednesday November 15.

“I trust this group of players to form the best team to achieve the big challenge of qualifying for FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2019,” said head coach Chema Buceta.

“After working hard in May and June to grow as a team, we will now concentrate on preparing for these games against Israel and Greece.”

“I’m sure we can get a good crowd in Manchester on November 11th to support the team.”

GREAT BRITAIN SQUAD
Dominique Allen	Manchester Mystics
Jennifer Ashton	Sheffield Hatters
Mollie Campbell	Leicester Riders
Stefanie Collins	Cardiff Met Archers
Melita Emanuel-Carr	CABC (FRA)
Temi Fagbenle	CCC Polkowice (POL)
Christina Gaskin	BA London Lions
Chantelle Handy	Team Northumbria
Georgia Jones	Manchester Mystics
Shequila Joseph	Fassi Albino (ITA)
Jo Leedham-Warner	Villeneuve D’Ascq  (FRA)
Nicolette Lyew Fong Quee	Durham Palatinates
Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby	Durham Palatinates
Siobhan Prior	Nottingham Wildcats
Hannah Shaw	Nottingham Wildcats
Eilidh Simpson	Cardiff Met Archers
Azania Stewart	TTT Riga (LAT)
Hannah Sunley-Paisley	St-Paul Reze (FRA)
Jamila Thompson	Leicester Riders
Rachael Vanderwal	Ferrol (ESP)

Meanwhile Stef Collins is to become the British Basketball’s Duty of Care Guardian, who will be responsible for ensuring that players and staff are looked after properly as they compete for their country.

Collins, who is already on the governing body’s board of directors, will lead the process to give all those involved a voice in the programme, which expanded in 2017 to take overall responsibility for junior teams from U16s level.

The move follows a series of scandals over player welfare in other sports with player committees or representatives set up to provide an opportunity to put views across, while an independent process for consultation and whistleblowing will be established.

“I look forward to taking on the responsibilities within this role,” the Cardiff player-coach said. “As a player myself, I am determined to make sure that we look after our players and give them a chance to speak up.

“Ensuring that we understand the many diverse backgrounds of our players and staff is very important to me. Our policy reflects that priority and we can deliver on this.”

Pic: Mansoor Ahmed