Basketball: Tall Ferns take first step towards Olympics

Tall Ferns coach will take his team into camp next week. Photo / Getty

The Tall Ferns women's basketball team will go into camp next week as they prepare for their all-important showdown against Australia in August.

The winner of the Oceania Series will earn entry to the Rio Olympics next year and will consist of a match in Melbourne on August 15 and another in Tauranga two days later.

The Tall Ferns go into selection camp in South Auckland next Thursday and players will be selected by the end of next week.

The Tall Blacks will also play three games before taking on Australia, including the first home series - apart from Oceania - in 10 years, when they host Japan in Ashburton and Christchurch in early August.

The last time the Tall Blacks hosted a country in a home series that wasn't Australia was India in 2006.

Head coach Kennedy Kereama said he was delighted to add the home series ahead of taking on the Aussies.

"It is very exciting to be hosting Japan on our shores in a three test series pre Oceania Champs," he said. "Playing games at home in front of our own fans and stakeholders is important to the growth of our game and exposure of the Tall Ferns brand.

"We are blessed with some amazing players on our roster, players who are enjoying great success for clubs and colleges all over the world and the opportunity to inspire our up and coming junior players by playing in front of home crowds will be a real boost for us."

Kereama says the focus will be twofold: to perform well against world-class opposition, but also to conclude preparations for the Melbourne and Tauranga games against the Opals, with the winner to qualify directly to Rio 2016.

"This series gives us a great platform to finish our preparation before playing the Opals. The Japanese are fierce competitors and boost some of the best talent in Asia, including Asami Yoshida and Mamiya Yuka, both were named in the all-star five at the 2013 Asian Championships.

"The Japanese play a very unique and quick style of basketball, which will be a great test.

"Their quickness and ability to spread the floor with precision three-point shooting will give our transition and perimeter defence a real challenge."

The games will be played within a week in August, with the first two in Christchurch on August 5 and 7 and the third in Ashburton on August 9.