Australian public-service broadcaster the ABC has agreed a deal to broadcast all four games of Australia’s men’s and women’s basketball teams at the forthcoming 2013 Fiba Oceania Championships.
Tipping off on August 14, Australia will take on New Zealand in the first double-header of the series in Auckland, with highlights from both games to be shown on ABC1. Live coverage of the games will be provided by the livebasketball.tv website.
The two teams will then return home for the second double-header of the trans-Tasman series on August 18, with ABC broadcasting live from the AIS Arena in Canberra.
ABC TV head of sport and events Justin Holdforth said: “The Opals and the Boomers are two of Australia's most important national sporting teams, so it's appropriate that both will be seen on the national broadcaster.”
The men’s team has automatically qualified for the 2014 World Cup with Australia and New Zealand taking the two places on offer; however, seedings and group placements will be decided at the men’s qualifier.
Australia’s women’s team must win the two-test event to qualify, as only one place is on offer in the Oceania qualifier for women.