Following the conclusion of the FIBA Under 21 World Championship for women in Russia yesterday, where the Australian team, the Sapphires, won silver after being defeated 96-73 by the USA in the final, Australia maintained its second placed ranking.

The defencejobs Opals narrowed the gap to the USA last September following their historic Gold Medal win at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan.

All junior and senior international results over a two Olympic Games cycle go toward the FIBA rankings for male and female teams and are updated at the conclusion of each FIBA World Championship, FIBA Zone Championship event and Olympic Games.

The top 10 ranked women's national teams are:
1. USA
2. Australia
3. Russia
4. Brazil
5. France
6. Spain
7. Czech Republic
8. Cuba
9. Korea
10. China