Monakana: GB ‘family’ has strength from within

Janice Monakana says Great Britain’s ‘family spirit’ can keep their positive run going as they look to secure a place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

GB flew to Belgrade this week for an Olympic Qualifying Tournament at which they will face China, Korea and Spain with the top three going through to the Games.

And Monakana goes into the competition, which was switched from China because of the Coronavirus outbreak this week, in a positive frame of mind.

The Sevenoaks Suns forward led her team to WBBL Cup success at the weekend with an MVP display and helped GB to a record-high fourth place in last summer’s Women’s EuroBasket.

“2019 was a great year for GB Basketball,” she said. “The focus for 2020 will be continuing to work hard as a group to keep this level of success up.

“Coach Chema (Buceta) has been very vocal about always seeing things through positive glasses. It’s such a big achievement to be competing for a spot in the Olympics so I feel remaining positive, sticking together and then working hard is the main focus for this tournament.”

Monakana is a relative newcomer to the squad which features a core of players who played at London 2012.

“We have many leaders in the group that lead in different ways,” she added. “The spirit of the group I would describe as a family – we all have one another’s back, know when to have a good time and know when it’s time to get serious.

“The established core of this team work so hard and anyone coming into this environment knows what’s expected of them and that they have to match the same level of work ethic and fearlessness.”