TARBES (FIBA World Championship for Women) - Tatsiana Likhtarovich is ready to raise her profile and emerge as one of the team leaders for Belarus when they compete at the FIBA World Championship for Women in Turkey.

Now in her seventh year with the senior national team and celebrating her 26th birthday this weekend, the versatile small forward believes the time is right to show everyone that Belarus are a team with more to offer than the headline duo of Anastasiya Verameyenka and Yelena Leuchanka.

"I'm in good shape now and there is a desire to show my maximum possibilities on the court at the World Championship," declared Likhtarovich.

"I am ready to take responsibility and to lead the team at the right moments.

"I am now playing with both my head and body in harmony and I understand the philosophy of our coach, Rimantas Grigas very well.

"Of course both Anastasiya and Yelena are really our leaders and they will always help us to feel more confident, since not every team has such experienced and talented players under the basket.

"Katsiaryna Snytsina is also now showing a great game in the French League, Maryia Papova made a harmonious entry into the the national team last year and I have much hope for our point guards, including Aliaksandra Tarasava and possibly Sviatlana Valko too."

Belarus will tussle with Australia, Cuba and Korea in Group C and while the Opals understandably take the limelight because of their past history, Likhtarovich is adamant her team will be focused on all their first phase opponents.

"We will be responsible in all games since every country will make a big effort - ourselves included," she said.

"In 2006, Australia won the World Championship and is on a pedestal, so they will get more attention. But we will not underestimate the other opponents we will face in the opening round."

Likhtarovich is bidding to step out at her third major global tournament, having debuted at the Olympics back in Bejing in 2008.

"The Olympic Games were of course incredible and I remember the experience when I went to the first game of the event and had so many people watching my every move," recalled the Minsk native.

"There was also the experience of being with world famous athletes and basketball stars, such as Kobe Bryant, while the closing ceremony was also a big highlight."

This will be the second FIBA World Championship for Likhtarovich, having been part of the Belarus side that made a run all the way to the last four of the tournament in the Czech Republic in 2010.

"The last FIBA World Championship had a lot of good games and perhaps unexpected victories," she mused.

"I played more than I had at the Olympics in 2008 and I remember every point, including the game with the United States when I went up against the best team in the world and scored some points."

Right now, Likhtarovich is enjoying her club basketball and playing a prolonged period in the French League, having moved there mid-season, in what is her second spell in the LFB after an ill-fated short-term spell with Arras.

"I do not equate this year with Tarbes to last year in Arras, where I was not able to interact well with the team and coach," she said.

"Tarbes is a totally different and it has shown with a different result. I have a good rapport with the players and the coach.

"I don't play for only limited minutes and we are practicing hard, which is great for me and hopefully will be effective in rising up the Championship standings and reaching the play-offs."

The dream in the last few weeks of the LFB season is to rubber-stamp a top eight finish and perhaps even go up against her compatriot Snytsina, who recently moved to Basket Lattes Montpellier Agglomeration.

She confirmed: "I really want my team to make it to the quarter-finals, although not only to possibly play against Montpellier.

"Me and Katsiaryna already played against each this season in EuroCup Women when I played for Horizont Minsk and she played for Tarsus Belediye.

"We won both games," added Likhtarovich with a smile.

FIBA