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27 September, 2014
05 October
Leticia Romero (ESP)
17/07/2014
News
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ESP - Younger players to make their case to Mondelo

POZUELO (FIBA World Championship for Women) - Spain head coach Lucas Mondelo is ready for several rising stars to catch his eye as he works with his players at the latest mini-camp which the EuroBasket Women champions are using as part of ongoing preparations for the FIBA World Championship for Women in Turkey.

Mondelo is overseeing an intensive workout involving 17 candidates in Pozuelo this week, following on from a highly-successful camp in Torrejon de Ardoz last month.

While Anna Cruz and Sancho Lyttle are both busy in the WNBA with the New York Liberty and Atlanta Dream respectively, the core of the players who will tread the hardwood in Ankara are all present.

The current group also includes young guns Leticia Romero and Belen Arrojo, who have been added after their exploits at the recent U20 European Championship Women and Mondelo is relishing the challenge of having to narrow down his list to 12 names.

"We have the backbone of the team that took the gold in France, but we now have the forced absences of Amaya Valdemoro and Elisa Aguilar, which means we need to start building a team that allows us to play with different options," he said.

"To the existing and outstanding players who have had quality minutes in various women's leagues and were with us last time in Torrejon, we have added Leticia Romero and Belen Arrojo who continue to grow as players.

"The younger players will put me in a very hard position because they have already demonstrated what they can do at the U20 European Championship Women.

"We are now tracing the outline of what the team will be at the FIBA World Championship for Women."

Most encouraging of all for Mondelo has been the presence of Laura Gil.

The forward received the morale-boosting green light from doctors to resume playing after recovering from an ACL injury which had previously been expected to rule her out of contention for Turkey.

However, she now has a fighting chance of getting herself ready for the tournament with a couple of months of preparation time still available.

"I have had my medical discharge. Every job has its rewards and now I will keep working hard," revealed the delighted forward.

At the FIBA World Championship for Women, Spain will play in Ankara's Group A and take on Brazil, the Czech Republic and Japan.

The full training camp attendees are as follows: Laia Palau, Silvia Dominguez, Cristina Ouvina, Arantxa Novo, Alba Torrens, Marta Xargay, Queralt Casas, Leonor Rodriguez, Nuria Martinez, Leticia Romero, Belen Arrojo, Laura Nicholls, Cindy Lima, Lucila Pascua, Laura Gil, Laura Herrera, Miriam Foraste.

FIBA