Australian basketball legend Andrew Gaze has again weighed in on the Liz Cambage situation, saying it was difficult to see how her actions could not have been construed as intentional.
Cambage on Monday denied allegations of racism and violence, something which raised eyebrows from plenty who had seen footage and heard witness testimony.
“The only reason these (allegations) have been raised in the last few weeks is on the back of her comments which were very negative comments around Basketball Australia and in particular, the Opals,” Gaze said on SEN on Monday afternoon.
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“I think that her comments were highly hurtful, indicating she did not believe she had been given a safe environment and one where she felt supported and loved and cared for.”
Video is now circling of the incident, which shows a swinging elbow from Cambage striking an opponent – she denies doing it on purpose.
“I don’t know how you could possibly say that [it wasn’t intentional] when you look at the vision, the vision is there for everyone to see, it’s a very, very vicious blow that she strikes to the Nigerian player,” Gaze said.
“I don’t know how you could argue that was unintentional, if anyone knows anything about basketball they’d see it’s a very, very high elbow, and yes she’s tall, it’s a vicious one that caused a laceration to the Nigerian girl’s neck.”
Gaze had previously labelled Cambage’s alleged comments towards the Nigerian team as “highly offensive”, “grossly unfair” and “disgusting”.
The 56-year-old said it was “desperately disappointing” that we would probably never see Cambage in an Opals jersey again, given her immense talent.
“Well, my understanding is in the foreseeable future, she will not be playing for Australia,” Gaze said.
“Here we have a World Cup coming up on Australian soil, which should be a marquee event for us to win a medal at the very least. Make no mistake, we are far, far better off with her on the team as a player.
“Based on what’s been said, we are far, far better off [without her] because of the conflict that appears to have been caused by her language and her behaviour.”
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