The Spanish Iyana Martín and Awa Fam, among the great favorites to be MVP of the World Cup
He World women’s basketball enters its final phase this weekend with the dispute this Saturday of the semi-finals (France-Germany and Spain-United States) and on Sunday, the grand final.
Coinciding with this decisive stretch of competition, FIBA has published a ranking with the majors favorites to be chosen as MVP of the tournament.
And as the main novelties, the presence of two players from the Spanish team stands out: the young Iyana Martin (20 years old and 1.75 meters) and Awa Fam (20 years old and 1.95 meters).
The Spar Girona point guard (chosen by the Portland Fire at No. 7 in the latest WNBA draft), is the Spanish team’s top scorer, with 16.5 points, in addition to 3.3 assists, for a rating of 17; while the Seattle Storm center is showing a little more irregularity but has emerged as the great reference for the inside game of Miguel Mendez’s team, with 11.5 points and 6.8 rebounds.
A large part of Spain’s chances against the United States in this Saturday’s semifinal (8 p.m./TDP) will pass through his hands.
French and ‘Team USA’ dominance
Leading this classification, made up entirely of players from the four semifinalist teams of the tournament, is the French forward of American origin (she was born in Nevada) Gabby Williams (30 years old and 1.80 meters tall) who is leading his team with averages of 17.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and a rating of 22.
Williams has taken such a privileged position from the American Breanna Sterwart (32 years and 1.91 meters), who until now was the big favorite according to FIBA.
The New York Liberty power forward is averaging 9.8 points, 7 rebounds and 15.8 efficiency per game in Berlin.
The French escort completes the podium Marine Johannes (31 years old and 1.78 meters), who in this World Cup is scoring a brilliant 16.5 points, 3.8 assists and 18.3 average rating.
In fourth position is one of the new features of this latest ranking: the German Leonie Fiebich (26 years and 1.92 meters), one of the big ‘culprits’, along with Frieda Buhner (22 years old and 1.87 meters), of the hosts’ classification for the semifinals of the tournament.
Fiebich, Stewart’s teammate in the NY Liberty, is practically averaging a ‘double double’ (10 points and 9 rebounds on average), while Buhner, a power forward for the Portland Fire, is up to 14.8 points and 4 rebounds per game.
Three representatives of the new batch of American players complete this list: the base Caitlin Clark (24 years old and 1.83 meters), who arrived in Berlin as one of the players to watch and is having a more discreet championship than expected (although Spain will do well not to get overconfident, lest they have their best game against the Spanish team, a classic), with averages of 8.5 points and 7 assists per game; the escort Paige Bueckers (25 years old and 1.83 meters), with averages of 9.5 points, 3.5 assists and 13 efficiency; and the pivot Angel Reese (24 years old and 1.90 meters), who is scoring 8.8 points and 6 rebounds on average so far in the tournament.
And for you, who is the big favorite to win the MVP of the Women’s Basketball World Cup?
