2006 FIBA World Championship for Women

[Andrius]

I was wondering if anyone has been following this? The Lithuanian women have finished higher than the men with one game left against France for 5th-6th place (they beat the Spaniards in 5th-8th place playoffs and will now face France - something the male side didn't manage to do). Lithuania concded the first game to Australia 2:0 due to being stuck in French Guyana needing Yellow Fever vaccines and still managing to do a great job - well done!



USA will probably get third, having lost to Russia in the semis so - just two bronzes for the Americans.



Anyway, I found the tournament interesting to follow - although I haven't been watching it live.

[diego.es]

I followed it. I was in Spain from the 9th to the 16th and managed to watch 2 games on tv. Spain have a good team, solid, but not as good as the men



The team wasn't able to keep the level. After thrashing Korea (+30) then they lost to a very inferior Argentinean side (-13) but finished the first round beating hosts Brazil



The second round started with a small defeat to Australia, now in the final. Then they defeated Lithuania and Canada to clinch 2nd spot. But as it happes sometimes, the draw threw us Russia. We lost narrowly (-4) in the quarter final. Then the team couldn't be bothered anymore, and you can't blame them. They went to Brazil for a medal, and they could have won it. The two finalist, Australia and Russia, have only beaten us by the narowest of marins.



But so is competition; you lose the key game and all you did before doesn't matter.



The Lithuanian affair with the first game was really odd. First, why did they leave the trip for so late? And then, do you think in a men's tournament they would have given them the game lost 2-0? Women's baketball is not as professional as men's... but still is a watchable sport; it is one of those sports where you can watch either men or women and see a good level of sport

[Andrius]

The Lithuanian event was baffling. I think their flight was cancelled so they decided to travel through French Guyana and then got held up there.



I think they awarded Australia the forfeit and a 2:0 loss because it would have been slightly unfair due to the fact that it wasn't them who cancelled the flight, and had the Lithuanians been disqualified the Aussies would have been the only decent team in the group, since Canada and Sengal don't have very good teams, and maybe they kept them in from a spectators point of view, too. If they had missed the Canada game they would have been disquaified, anyway.