22 Nov 2011

Tall Blacks and Tall Ferns Olympic qualifiers call next week?

5:10 pm on 22 November 2011

A decison on whether the New Zealand men's and women's basketball teams will compete at a last chance Olympic qualifying tournament next year will be made next week.

Both the Tall Blacks and Tall Ferns were beaten by Australia in the Oceania Olympic qualifying series in September.

But Basketball New Zealand is hoping for funding from High Performance Sport New Zealand for both teams to compete at the final Olympic qualifier in June and July, from which three teams out of 12 will make the Olympic tournament.

A funding decision will be made mid-December however Basketball New Zealand's chief executive Tim Hamilton says they must tell the sport's international governing body FIBA by the end of the month about their intentions.

Hamilton says it will cost about $400,000 to send each team to the tournament.