21 March 2013
ANGOLA : Tomas: "We must capitalise on the Olympic experience"
| Luisa Tomas (ANG) - Angola v China, 2012 Olympics |
LUANDA (Afrobasket for Women/FIBA World Championship for Women) - If there is one moment that Angolan center Luisa Tomas will cherish for the rest of her basketball career, it is the London Olympics.
She attracted the scouts' attention, got her photograph taken with international sport personalities - including Brazil center Nene - but it is her match-up against the USA's Candace Parker that intrigued her the most.
"God, she is a great player. Highly-skilled, in fact," Tomás told FIBA.com.
Team USA trashed Angola 90-38 and Parker went on to register game-highs of 14 points and 12 rebounds in 24 minutes.
Tomas spent 22 minutes on court and finished with two points made from the free-throw line, as she missed all five of her shots attempts.
"We realised that we need to work harder in order to compete equally with the USA," she said.
Angola lost all five games of its Preliminary Round games, including against Turkey (72-50), China (76-52), Croatia (75-56) and Czech Republic (82-47).
However, they almost upset China as they went to the break trailing two points (33-31).
Tomas says she felt more comfortable matching up against Croatian Marija Vrsaljko.
"I had one of my best games in London against Croatia because I was relaxed," she recalled.
In that game, Tomas led Angola in scoring with 15 points and added eight rebounds.
When asked why Angola registered the lowest scoring points percentage, Tomas said that happened because "(we) sometimes, struggled to interpret the head coach's instructions."
As she turns 30 on Sunday, Tomas is yet to decide her club career's future, although she might still remain at Inter Clube de Luanda.
While in London last summer, she was contacted by agents who wanted to sign her to play professionally in France, Russia or Spain.
"I decided to remain in Angola because I have so many things to do here," Tomas explained.
"I have a young daughter to look after.
"I am looking forward to finishing my business management degree and there is a lot for me to do here in Angola."
As the defending continental champions, Angola are expected to travel to Afrobasket Women in Mozambique come September to retain their African crown, according to Tomas.
“We have to capitalise on our Olympic experience and put it in practice when play the Afrobasket again," she warned.
"If you ask me which team I would like to see at the World Championship, logically I would say Angola," she said.
The top two teams at Afrobasket qualify directly to the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women which will be held in Turkey.
Although Tomas stands 1.92m, she says Angola needs height to square off against bigger opponents.
FIBA
She attracted the scouts' attention, got her photograph taken with international sport personalities - including Brazil center Nene - but it is her match-up against the USA's Candace Parker that intrigued her the most.
"God, she is a great player. Highly-skilled, in fact," Tomás told FIBA.com.
Team USA trashed Angola 90-38 and Parker went on to register game-highs of 14 points and 12 rebounds in 24 minutes.
Tomas spent 22 minutes on court and finished with two points made from the free-throw line, as she missed all five of her shots attempts.
"We realised that we need to work harder in order to compete equally with the USA," she said.
Angola lost all five games of its Preliminary Round games, including against Turkey (72-50), China (76-52), Croatia (75-56) and Czech Republic (82-47).
However, they almost upset China as they went to the break trailing two points (33-31).
Tomas says she felt more comfortable matching up against Croatian Marija Vrsaljko.
"I had one of my best games in London against Croatia because I was relaxed," she recalled.
In that game, Tomas led Angola in scoring with 15 points and added eight rebounds.
When asked why Angola registered the lowest scoring points percentage, Tomas said that happened because "(we) sometimes, struggled to interpret the head coach's instructions."
As she turns 30 on Sunday, Tomas is yet to decide her club career's future, although she might still remain at Inter Clube de Luanda.
While in London last summer, she was contacted by agents who wanted to sign her to play professionally in France, Russia or Spain.
"I decided to remain in Angola because I have so many things to do here," Tomas explained.
"I have a young daughter to look after.
"I am looking forward to finishing my business management degree and there is a lot for me to do here in Angola."
As the defending continental champions, Angola are expected to travel to Afrobasket Women in Mozambique come September to retain their African crown, according to Tomas.
“We have to capitalise on our Olympic experience and put it in practice when play the Afrobasket again," she warned.
"If you ask me which team I would like to see at the World Championship, logically I would say Angola," she said.
The top two teams at Afrobasket qualify directly to the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women which will be held in Turkey.
Although Tomas stands 1.92m, she says Angola needs height to square off against bigger opponents.
FIBA
# posted by afrbk : 19:38
