British basketball player Johannah Leedham broke down in tears and described the sport as a 'shambles' in the UK ahead of their Olympic qualification bid.

Three out of four teams from Great Britiain, China, Spain and South Korea will qualify for the Games in Tokyo later this year.

And with the Lottery funding having been pulled from basketball in Great Britain after London 2012, Leedham stressed how reaching the Olympics this time around could affect the future of the sport in the UK.

She said: "We're just really trying to inspire everybody. Basketball is just such a shambles in the UK.

"And so this group, if we can just get this ticket to Tokyo, nobody will really know how much it really means.

"It's just been such a ride and I just know where we've come from, what we've gone through. This ticket is everything and when you're at the end of your career it means even more.

"So, if we can get that and inspire the next generation and keep basketball going in the UK and hopefully lift it and have more girls playing basketball, raise the level and hopefully get the support that we need, that's what we're fighting for.

"We don't feel any pressure for that, but that's ultimately what we want."

Team GB lost the first of their qualifying games 86-76 to China on Thursday, but will have to bounce back quickly as they face South Korea on Saturday and Spain on Sunday.