Australian basketball coach Carrie Graf has described the loss of Penny Taylor to injury as a devastating blow to the country's Olympic hopes.
Basketball Australia this morning confirmed Taylor will miss the London Games with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
The 30-year-old will have an operation in Melbourne next week and will miss the rest of the year.
"It's a devastating blow to our team and certainly to Penny herself as an athlete," Graf said.
"You know she was going to her third Olympic Games, she's a legitimate world superstar player and a huge part of her campaign, so devastating for Penny and certainly a big blow to our team."
Taylor injured her knee playing for her Turkish club Fenerbahce in the EuroLeague.
Scans have shown she has torn her anterior cruciate ligament and will have to undergo surgery.
The 30-year-old has been part of every major Australian women's basketball success for the past decade, including their 2006 world championship win and Olympic silver medals in Athens and Beijing.
Taylor has also won an American WNBA championship with the Phoenix Mercury.
The Victorian would have been a certain selection in the Opals' final 12 for London, which would have been her third Olympic Games.
Taylor's injury will also rule her out of the Mercury's upcoming WNBA season starting next month.
She has been in superb club form, recently being named European player of the year for 2011 by respected web site Eurobasket.com after averaging more than 19 points a game for Fenerbahce.
AAP
Tags: sport, olympics-summer, basketball, australia, united-kingdom First posted April 11, 2012 08:05:25
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