Injured Taylor confident in Opals

Updated May 07, 2012 16:01:04

An emotional Penny Taylor is confident she will be back on the basketball court in nine months after the knee injury which devastated her Olympic Games hopes.

Australian star Taylor suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in a game for her Turkish club Fenerbahce five weeks ago.

After recent surgery in Melbourne, 30-year-old Taylor says she expects to miss the entire American WNBA season and much of the European season as well as the Games in July before she returns.

Her injury robs the Opals - and the London Games - of one of the world's best women's basketballers.

But Taylor is confident Australia still has the firepower to finally break through for the gold medal that has been narrowly elusive in the past three Olympics - and beat the United States.

"Missing the WNBA, missing the Olympics, missing over half the European season, as far as my career goes, it's pretty devastating," Taylor said.

"We have some great talent. It'll be a group effort to get things going. The USA team is always really strong, strong in every position.

"We're going to be competitive and really strong going into this, and we've got players who've played there (at an Olympics), more than probably at the last Olympics, and they're going to have a great preparation."

Taylor had been playing career-best basketball in Europe before her injury.

She will do her injury rehabilitation in the United States with her WNBA club Phoenix Mercury.

The Opals, silver medallists in the past three Olympics, go into the first stage of an intensive pre-Games training camp in Canberra next week.

AAP

Tags: basketball, olympics-summer, sport, australia

First posted May 07, 2012 15:59:53

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Opals lose Penny Taylor for Olympics

Updated April 11, 2012 12:33:30

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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Taylor gets WNBA All Star nod

Updated July 20, 2011 20:32:20

Australian Opals star Penny Taylor has been rewarded for her career-best start to the 2011 season by being selected in the WNBA All Star Game to be played on Saturday in San Antonio, Texas.

Taylor is the only international player selected in the game and will represent the Western Conference.

The Phoenix Mercury forward comes into the game as a league MVP candidate, averaging 16 points, six rebounds and six assists per game.

No player in WNBA history has averaged better than 15 points, five rebounds and five assists in a single season.

Taylor is in the league's top 10 in six different categories - points, assists, steals, field goal percentage, three-point percentage and free throw percentage.

Taylor said from Phoenix she is honoured to represent the sport at the WNBA All Star Weekend.

"Any time you are recognised by your peers and coaches, it is a huge honour," she said.

"When you can share that occasion with the best players in the world, it is a special opportunity to represent women's basketball."

Taylor, a three-time WNBA All Star, former world championship MVP and two-time WNBA champion was recently named as one of the greatest 30 players in league history.

Taylor and Lauren Jackson are the only two international players to receive the honour.

Taylor comes into the All Star game with the Phoenix Mercury leading the Western Conference after winning a league best nine of their past 10 games.

AAP

Tags: basketball, sport, united-states

First posted July 20, 2011 20:32:20

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