Australian basketball star Liz Cambage dropped from Opals after missing camp to attend music festival

BASKETBALL star Liz Cambage has been left out of the Opals squad after attending Splendour in the Grass music festival instead of a mandatory team camp.

Liz Cambage

LIZ Cambage has said she will consider legal action if Basketball Australia did not overturn a sensational playing ban imposed on the Opals star.

Cambage has been ruled out of games against Japan across Victoria this week and key 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic qualifiers against New Zealand next month.

The 203cm centre missed an Opals training session in Melbourne on Sunday, staying at the Splendour in the Grass music festival in Byron Bay.

Cambage said she was at Splendour as a paid “host” for a band, and only agreed to the gig because of uncertain over timing of the Opals camp and Japan series.

Basketball authorities said they were told of Cambage’s Splendour plans only last Wednesday and reluctantly agreed to allow her to join the Opals camp on Sunday.

Liz Cambage recovering at home in Mt Eliza after rupturing her achilles heel last year. Picture: Derrick den Hollander

Opals coach Brendan Joyce told the Herald Sun that the Cambage camp refused to comply.

“At the end of the day we tried to compromise, but you can only compromise so far otherwise we would be jeopardising her own health by not putting her through a training session,” Joyce said.

“And we would be jeopardising the team by someone deciding they want to come in when they want to come in.

“The team comes first and we are player-driven. The team is disappointed and everyone is, but everyone understands and supports the decision that was made by the coaching staff and

Basketball Australia.”

Cambage was due to arrive back in Melbourne on Monday morning.

“I was not aware that Basketball Australia was issuing a media statement tonight as I thought we were trying to work through things,’’ Cambage told the Herald Sun.

“I have been doing everything I can to keep everyone happy.

“I am devastated as anyone who knows me knows how much I love representing my country.

“But I am a person that does not pull out of things, whether it a professional commitment, a personal commitment or as a basketballer for my country.

“I want nothing more than to return to the court in my home town of Melbourne in August which is why I am once again asking Basketball Australia to let me attend this camp.”

Liz Cambage (left) and Marianna Tolo at an Opals training.Picture: Norm Oorloff

Cambage, 23, is on the comeback trail from a year-long achilles injury and has signed a reputed $1m-plus deal to play in China next season.

Opals bosses see the Japan games as a key lead-in to the Olympic qualifiers against New Zealand.

The national team plays Japan at Dandenong on Monday night, Frankston on Wednesday and Ballarat on Friday.

They meet New Zealand at Rod Laver Arena on August 15 and in Tauranga,

NZ, on August 17.

Cambage wrote to coach Joyce on Friday, arguing her case, but Basketball Australia ruled a training session was mandatory in order to play against Japan tonight given her fitness status.

The Opals trained on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning and night.

Splendour in the Grass attracts more than 20,000 music fans each year to the northern NSW coast.

The three-day festival was closed on Sunday night by Britpop royalty Blur.

Originally published as Australian basketball star Liz Cambage dropped from Opals after missing camp to attend music festival