MELBOURNE (FIBA World Championship for Women) - Australia head coach Brendan Joyce has insisted his team's ambitions at the FIBA World Championship for Women in Turkey remain unchanged, despite Lauren Jackson losing her fight to regain full fitness for the event.

The play-caller will be without the legendary star after it was revealed that medical staff confirmed her knee is not yet fit for travel and she will require a further 8-12 weeks of rehabilitation.

"Lauren has been a cornerstone of the programme for more than 14 years now and she's always taken great pride in playing for her country and played an immeasurable part in making the Opals a powerhouse on the world stage," said Joyce.

"I truly feel for her right now since I know what it means to her to represent Australia and I've seen how hard she's worked through training and rehab to get herself fighting fit for this FIBA World Championship.

"As a team, we're obviously disappointed not to have her with us for the campaign, but her health is top priority and we're all fully supportive of that.

"Our goals at the World Championship haven't changed. We were always hopeful Lauren would be with us in Turkey, but likewise we've had to have a contingency plan in the event that she wasn't.

"When you look at our last two tours of Japan and Europe, we've gone 8-2 against world class opposition - Belarus, Czech Republic, Turkey, Brazil, Canada. That shows the entire team is stepping up and in particular, our younger players are hitting their stride.

"Lauren can't be easily replaced and it's not a matter of one person filling the void - everyone will have to share the load.

"But we've had 15 months of intensive preparation, so I feel good about where the team is at."

Jackson meanwhile said she was extremely disappointed to not be participating at what would have been a staggering fifth appearance at the tournament.

"I've worked so hard on my rehab program and my knee injury has actually progressed well - sadly, just not enough to compete at Worlds," she confirmed.

"Put simply, we just ran out of time.

"Furthermore, a problem with my hip has continued to worsen and it's now impacting on my rehab programme. After scans this week, the medical advice was to operate.

"I can't wait to be finally back on court - I'm actually fit and strong so the hard work will not be lost."

Jackson is preparing to return at club level in the WNBL for the University of Canberra Capitals in November.

FIBA