Hopes high, expectations low for Germany as it prepares to host Women’s Basketball World Cup

BERLIN (AP) — Injuries and three straight losses in warmups have not dimmed hopes for host team Germany at the Women’s Basketball World Cup in Berlin.

As a well-known German saying goes, “hope is the last to die.”

Germany is making just its second World Cup appearance. The first was when it previously hosted the quadrennial tournament in 1998. The German team reached the second group stage on that occasion and will be aiming for a medal this time, though the absence of star player Satou Sabally is a major blow.

The New York Liberty forward is still dealing with the effects of a concussion — her second of the year — sustained in a game against Las Vegas in June.

Sabally’s younger sister Nyara, who plays for the Toronto Tempo, is yet to make her comeback from a calf injury, while Liberty’s Leonie Fiebich, another key player, is just back from a foot injury.

Germany’s preparations for the expanded 16-team 20th edition of the tournament haven’t been optimal with three straight defeats to Spain, Hungary and Turkey in warmup games.

“Of course, we were hoping for a win but it was just a friendly,” Luisa Geiselsöder said of the latest loss, 63-62 to Turkey in Cologne on Thursday.

Geiselsöder’s WNBA colleagues Sabally, Fiebich and her Portland Fire teammate Frieda Bühner missed the warmup games but their arrival should provide a boost.

“We learned a lot today,” Germany coach Olaf Lange said after the Turkey game. “But with the three (WNBA players yet to arrive) we’re a completely different team.”

Lange said he was confident Nyara Sabally will be able to play at the tournament based on the results of an MRI scan on her calf.

Germany will also be reliant on combo guard Alexis Peterson as the primary playmaker.

Team captain Marie Gülich made her comeback from a serious knee injury in the 65-60 friendly loss to Spain.

Germany starts Friday with another clash against Spain in the 14,000 capacity Berlin Arena, so-called for the tournament to avoid mentioning the venue’s frequently changing sponsor.

The Max-Schmeling-Halle, a multipurpose 9,000 seat venue named after Germany’s heavyweight champion from 1932, will also host games for the tournament.

Germany has never beaten Spain in seven competitive meetups. Spain won their last meeting 79-60 in the group stage of Eurobasket in Hamburg last year.

Germany then faces Japan in the Max-Schmeling-Halle on Saturday, before finishing Group A with a game it will be expected to win against Mali on Sept. 7.

Only the bottom team in each of the four groups is eliminated. The group winners advance directly to the quarterfinals, while the others face playoffs to advance to the last eight.

Organizers announced that more than 200,000 tickets have been sold for the tournament already — more than for any of the previous editions. The final on Sept. 13 is sold out.

“We’re witnessing an extraordinary evolution of our sport, and this World Cup in Berlin will mark another major milestone,” German Basketball Federation president Ingo Weiss said. “200,000 tickets is a fantastic sign, and we’re far from finished yet.”

See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

FILE - Toronto Tempo forward Nyara Sabally (8) reaches for the ball during the second half of a WNBA basketball game against the New York Liberty, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa, File)

FILE - Portland Fire center Luisa Geiselsoder (15) takes a free throw during a WNBA basketball game against the Chicago Sky in Portland, Ore., Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman, File)

FILE - New York Liberty forward Leonie Fiebich (13) gestures during the second half of a WNBA basketball game against the Toronto Tempo, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa, File)

FILE - Portland Fire forward-center Frieda Buhner plays during a WNBA basketball game against the Chicago Sky in Portland, Ore., Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman, File)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a large aerial assault in and around Ukraine’s capital overnight into Tuesday morning, killing at least 12 people and wounding more than a dozen others, including three children, local authorities said.

The strikes marked the sixth straight day of heavy Russian attacks on Kyiv that began last week and are an unprecedented stretch of consecutive aerial assaults since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor more than 4½ years ago. Moscow's aim is to grind down civilians by disrupting their daily life, Ukrainian officials say.

Several million Ukrainian schoolchildren returned to classes Tuesday for the new school year, just as Russia unleashed its onslaught of cruise and ballistic missiles, jet-powered drones, glide bombs and artillery salvos at Kyiv as well as eight other regions of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 12 people were killed, including an Indian citizen.

The attack struck civilian infrastructure and residential buildings in several districts of Kyiv, authorities said, with eight people killed in the city itself and three others in the surrounding region.

Six employees of state-owned railway company Ukrzaliznytsia were among those killed in Kyiv when a ballistic missile hit a depot and other premises, company chairman Oleksandr Pertsovskyi said in a social media post.

Nearly 350 emergency workers were deployed in Kyiv and the surrounding region, Zelenskyy said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces carried out a “massive strike” on Ukraine overnight with “precision-guided weapons” and long-range drones. The assault targeted facilities manufacturing and storing weapons as well as military-related infrastructure, it said.

Ukraine’s air force said that Russia began the attack at 6 p.m. Monday, using ballistic, cruise and anti-radar missiles, as well as 218 drones and decoys. About a third of the drones were jet-powered, which are much harder to intercept than the propeller-driven version.

The main Russian targets were in the Kyiv and southern Odesa regions, the air force said in a statement.

The attack on the Odesa region, located on the Black Sea, damaged civilian infrastructure and wounded one person, regional head Oleh Kiper said.

Two residential buildings were damaged, while a fire broke out at a textile factory. Russian forces also struck the Orlivka international ferry crossing on the border with Romania, he said.

Russia also shelled the northern Zhytomyr region, starting fires at an industrial facility and a warehouse, Ukraine’s Emergency Service said.

In the capital, first responders worked to clear rubble from damaged apartment buildings and free trapped residents.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its air defenses overnight intercepted 516 Ukrainian drones over 18 Russian regions, as well as the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula and the Black Sea.

In the Leningrad region, the drone attack sparked a fire in the port of Ust-Luga, Gov. Alexander Drozdenko said, as Ukraine extended its campaign to hurt Russia's oil sector, which is a mainstay of the economy.

Ust-Luga is one of Russia’s largest oil and gas export terminals more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) away from Ukraine. It has been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian drone attacks this year.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out a fire following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)