BENDIGO Braves women's star Tess Madgen has been named in the Australian Opals' leadership group for the upcoming FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup.
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Madgen will join Stephanie Talbot and Sami Whitcomb as the three leaders for the Opals, who are the host team for the Women's World Cup that will be held in Sydney from September 22 to October 1.
Madgen, Talbot and Whitcomb were all part of the Opals squad that finished runner-up to the United States at the 2018 Women's World Cup held in Spain.
"It's a huge honour for Steph, Sami and I to be held in such high esteem by our peers for our leadership abilities within the group," Madgen said on Wednesday.
"To be voted in by your peers is really special; we don't take this for granted and are really excited to take on this role.
"We certainly want to lead by example and feel responsible for the growth and development of the culture that we are building with this new squad.
"We want to empower everyone in the squad to be themselves and also play a role in helping us build and shape this squad as we work hard towards improving as individuals and as a team ahead of the World Cup this September."
Madgen, 31, is having a stellar season with the Braves' women, who sit at the top of the NBL1 ladder with a 10-2 record.
Madgen has played seven of the Braves' 12 games and is averaging 26.3 points, 8.1 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 1.7 steals.
Australia will be in Group B for the Women's World Cup and starts its campaign on September 22 against France.
The Opals are in Canberra at the Australian Institute of Sport this week for four days of training, with the camp including the legendary Lauren Jackson, who announced last week she is coming out of her nine-year international retirement.
Opals World Cup group games schedule:
September 22 - v France.
September 23 - v Mali.
September 25 - v Serbia.
September 26 - v Canada.
September 27 - v Japan.
All games are at the Sydney SuperDome.
Meanwhile, the Australian Boomers begin their latest FIBA World Cup qualifying campaign in Melbourne on Thursday night.
The Boomers will be captained by Maryborough's Matthew Dellavedova for what will be three games at John Cain Arena against China (Thursday and Sunday) and Japan (Friday).
Next year's 2023 FIBA World Cup will be jointly-hosted by Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines from August 25 to September 10.
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