By The Canadian Press

KARLOVY VARY, Czech Republic - Canada's women's basketball team will face Australia, China and Belarus in the opening round of next year's FIBA world championships.

The No. 3-ranked Aussies should provide the toughest test for the 12th-ranked Canadians, who were slotted into Group A in Tuesday's draw for the Sept. 23-Oct. 3 tournament in the Czech Republic.

"Playing Australia, China and Belarus will give us a great opportunity to show the rest of the world the progress our program has made, and how we stack up against the world's best," said Canadian coach Allison McNeill.

"The world championships will give our athletes tremendous experience that we will carry forward to our ultimate goal of qualifying for the 2012 Olympic Games."

The Aussies were world champions in 2006 and Olympic silver medallists in '08. China, ranked No. 7 in the world, finished fourth at the Beijing Olympics, while 16th-ranked Belarus finished sixth.

The Canadian women were 10th at the 2006 world championship tournament, but have twice won bronze (1979, 1986).

"I love our team, we are getting better every summer and I think we are going to surprise people in 2010," McNeill said.

The 16-team field was drawn into four groups. Group B has Senegal, Greece, No. 1-ranked United States, and France. Group C has Mali, South Korea, Brazil and Spain, while Group D has Japan, the Czech Republic, Argentina and second-ranked Russia.

The top three teams in each group advance to the next round, consisting of two groups of six teams. The top four teams of these two groups move on to the quarter-finals.