Despite a losing start to their preparations for next month`s EuroBasket Women qualifiers, Belgian team manager Caroline De Roose is confident her side will hit form before their first game.

Belgium have just lost three consecutive fixtures to reigning European champions Czech Republic but with star player Ann Wauters due to link-up with the side soon, De Roose remains confident.

"We have some youngsters in the squad and some older players and the mix is good," De Roose told PA Sport.

		Ann Wauters and Belgium last played in EuroBasket Women in 2003, when they finished in sixth.

"We are just waiting for Ann Wauters to join us at the end of August. She is taking a little break from her career now and is back joining the team.

"We should be ready for the start of the qualifiers and we will probably have a couple of games with Ann back (in the team)."

De Roose has also played down the significance of the triple defeat at the hands of the Czech Republic, insisting the games were designed to highlight the areas the team could improve.

"We played against the Czech Republic to see what our level is right now and what things to team needs to get better at in the next few weeks.

"The Czechs are European champions so they are a good team to measure our team against."

De Roose will have been particularly impressed by the showings of Marjorie Carpreaux and Sara Bas, who both caught the eye in the second match of the series despite losing 84-76.

The Belgian side continue their preparations with a tournament in Finland where they compete against the hosts, Israel and Sweden before travelling to France for games against the home nation, Spain and Senegal.

After that they start their qualification alongside the Slovak Republic and Latvia in Group E.

"We have some good games coming up and I think we should be ready tactically and technically by the end of August.

"Latvia did well in the last European Championships where they ended sixth and they have some good young players.

"I heard a lot of (experienced) Slovak players left and there are new players in the team so we will be scouting them.

"Both teams will be very hard to beat but they'll be good games."