Ili, Cameron join Tall Blacks for Olympic Qualifiers

A pair of Melbourne United stars are set to suit up in hopes of helping New Zealand qualify for the Olympics for the first time in 20 years.

Shea Ili and Flynn Cameron will join an extended 19-man Tall Blacks squad for a pair of friendly games against Finland and Poland in Helsinki on the 26th and 29th of June respectively.

The team will then be cut down to 12 players ahead of New Zealand’s Olympic Qualifier Tournament in Greece, which will see them face off against Slovenia, Croatia, Greece, Egypt and Dominican Republic.

If they can come out of the tournament, they will progress to the 2024 Paris games.

Having played a starring role for the Tall Blacks at the recent FIBA World Cup, Shea Ili spoke about his desire to return New Zealand to the Olympics.

“Our main goal is to try and make the Olympics and as a team we’ll be going out to do our absolute best; for me the one thing I’ve always wanted in my career is to go to an Olympics and do my family – and our country – proud,” he said.

“As a team we’ve always shown that when we step foot on that court, we’re capable of beating any opponent we’re up against; but it’s about taking that next step and being able to win the games we need to win to make it through.

“We’ll be going up against some big powerhouses in Slovenia and Croatia in group play, and if we can make it through to the crossover we’ll face Greece or another team. So we’ll focus on being able to make it through and take that next step; we can’t just be happy with playing well – we have to make it through to the next stage, do ourselves proud and make the Olympics.

“To be able to go to the Olympics is every kid’s dream, if we can fulfil that, that’ll be awesome.”

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