SAO PALO, Brazil Sept 12 - Lithuania has officially forfeited its opening women's basketball world championship match against Australia in Brazil after failing to reach the Ibirapuera Arena in time for tip-off.

The teams were due to meet at 5.30pm local time today (6.30am Wednesday AEST), but a vaccination issue forced the Lithuanians to miss the game.

A cancelled flight meant Lithuania had to travel via French Guyana to reach Brazil, but Brazilian law states visitors from French Guyana need to have yellow fever vaccinations to enter the country, which the Europeans didn't anticipate.

They were duly sent back to French Guyana and were forced to wait for clearance from Brazilian authorities to enter the South American nation.

The Opals have been awarded a 2-0 victory and the two points for the forfeit and next face Senegal at 7.45pm tomorrow (8.45am Thursday AEST).

The situation is a blow for the Australian team, which has been together as a group for less than a month and needs as many games as possible to develop team chemistry.

The Opals will now have one less game than main rivals the United States and Russia as the tournament progresses towards the medal rounds.

"We told the girls at a team meeting and they were troopers, they took it on the chin," Opals team manager Marian Stewart told BA Media's James Dampney.

"Sure they're disappointed, but we'll train for half an hour on the court and have a scrimmage and they'll wait and play tomorrow.

"But it's one game less and we needed as many games as we could get under our belt."

The Opals are now having a light-hearted practice session and a low-key scrimmage to try to remain fresh ahead of tomorrow's second game.

PHOTO COURTESY OF EMMA HOY