{"id":771227,"date":"2026-07-01T03:04:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T03:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/771227\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T03:04:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T03:04:20","slug":"event-preview-opals-v-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/771227\/","title":{"rendered":"Event preview: Opals v China"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Opals return to home soil next week for the first time in more than a year, taking on China in a two-game international series at John Cain Arena in Melbourne on 7 and 9 July.<\/p>\n

The series marks another important step in the Opals’ preparations for the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup, with two of the world’s leading women’s basketball nations set to go head-to-head in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

The Opals enter the series following an unbeaten start to 2026, having secured a perfect 5-0 record at the FIBA Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournament earlier this year. Victories over Argentina, Japan, Hungary, T\u00fcrkiye and Canada continued the momentum built after Australia’s 2025 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup domination.<\/p>\n

Game One tips off on Tuesday, 7 July, before the series wraps up on Thursday, 9 July.<\/p>\n

Both games will be played at John Cain Arena and broadcast live and free on the 9Network via 9Go. Tickets are available via Ticketek.<\/p>\n

Broadcast<\/p>\n

Both games will be broadcast live and free on the 9Network via 9Go<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Tickets<\/p>\n

Tickets available via Ticketek<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Opals\"<\/p>\n

Zitina Aokuso
\nAlex Fowler<\/p>\n

Amy Atwell
\nAlicia Froling<\/p>\n

Chloe Bibby
\nDarcee Garbin<\/p>\n

Isabelle Bourne
\nMaddy Rocci<\/p>\n

Bonnie Deas
\nSteph Reid<\/p>\n

Abbey Ellis
\nAlex Wilson<\/p>\n

Sitaya Fagan
\nCourtney Woods<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is the bit where Melbourne roars. Where winter belongs to the crowd, the clash, the edge-of-your-seat moments you feel in your chest.\u00a0 It’s\u00a0the scent of fresh coffee drifting out of laneway roasters, the neon-lit glow of hidden bars that feel like secrets, the sudden warmth of a gallery, a gig, a perfectly timed bowl of something slow-cooked and soul-filling. At Melbourne’s iconic sporting venues, the atmosphere is everything.\u00a0It’s\u00a0the shared chants, the collective gasps, the thrill of being part of something bigger than yourself.\u00a0Come winter in Melbourne, it\u2019s every bit different.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Opals return to home soil next week for the first time in more than a year, taking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85,83],"class_list":["post-771227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}