FOR 40 minutes tonight, there will be no mixed emotions for Tom Maher. That, he says, would be "cheating". He is proudly Australian and one of the most successful women's basketball coaches the country has produced, but for the time being, the Melbourne-born coach is Chinese.

Maher led the Opals to bronze in Atlanta in 1996, and then, after he introduced a teenage Lauren Jackson to the team, they won silver in Sydney in 2000. But since 2004 he has been coach of the Chinese national team, and when his current team and former team meet this evening with a place in the gold medal game at stake, there will only be one team Maher will be cheering for.

"China's my team, it would be cheating to have another approach," he said yesterday. "Of course, I have great memories of coaching in Australia, but now China is my team and I want China to win. If we could upset them - and we would be 20-1 outsiders to do that - I would be deliriously happy. But, I would look across to their bench and feel like shedding a tear for some of them because I am still close to many of the girls. It's a super challenge and we have to pray everything goes right for us and they are off their game. Am I looking forward to it? Yeah, I just wish we were playing someone else."

The Opals will wait until the final moments to decide whether Penny Taylor will play. The key forward injured her right ankle in the quarter-final win over the Czech Republic, and while the medical staff believe her Games campaign is not over, there are thoughts she will be rested tonight.

"Penny is going really well, we're quite happy with her," team doctor Scott Burne said. "I can't give a percentage about that [whether she will play]. She's certainly a chance, and we're giving her every opportunity. I definitely think she will be playing if we get past this next game, and we're hopeful that she could play tomorrow night."

Maher was not sure whether Taylor would play, but he hoped she would be back on court soon. "I would hate to see Penny miss out. Australian sport medicine is the best in the world, and if anyone can get her back they can. She's a beautiful woman, but she's no porcelain doll."