Former Gold Coast Blaze forward Pero Cameron will travel to his third World Championships after being named as the captain of the New Zealand Tall Blacks team for Turkey.
Cameron had been in a desperate race against time to line up for the Tall Blacks due to the niggling foot injury which limited him to just 13 games for the Blaze last NBL season.
He managed to convince Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic of his fitness during trials on the weekend however and was subsequently selected in the New Zealand World Championship team.
The 36-year-old, who debuted for his country in 1994, joins fellow past and present NBL players Thomas Abercrombie (New Zealand Breakers), Kirk Penney (New Zealand Breakers), Casey Frank (formerly Gold Coast Blaze), Craig Bradshaw (formerly Gold Coast Blaze), Phill Jones (Cairns Taipans), Alex Pledger (New Zealand Breakers), Mika Vukona (New Zealand Breakers), Jeremy Kench (formely Singapore Slingers and Wollongong Hawks) and Lindsay Tait (formerly (Wollongong Hawks and New Zealand Breakers).
Vucinic admitted there was a stage he seriously doubted Cameron would make it.
"Over the weekend I thought it was going to be a real struggle for him. (But) he came right completely. I think he was surprised himself," Vucinic said when confirming his squad.
Cameron, who coached Wellington to the NZNBL crown in his maiden season in a coaching role this year, shared his coach's doubts.
"The last two sessions were my best sessions. I kept on getting better, it was a bit of a mental thing - am I able to keep turning it up? But there was progression and the confidence came with it."
The squad leave Monday for Europe where they will sharpen their preparations for the championship by playing in tournaments in Turkey, Slovenia and Croatia. The world championships start in Turkey on August 28.
Tall Blacks 2010 World Championship Team
Thomas Abercrombie (Waikato), Benny Anthony Jnr (North Harbour), Craig Bradshaw (unattached), Pero Cameron (captain, Wellington), Casey Frank (Wellington), Phill Jones (Nelson), Jeremy Kench (Christchurch), Mike Fitchett (Nelson), Kirk Penney (vice captain, NZ Breakers), Alex Pledger (Waikato), Lindsay Tait (Wellington), Mika Vukona (Nelson).