A last-minute travel hitch forced Lithuania's women's basketball team to forfeit their opening game in the FIBA Women’s World Championships against Australia on Tuesday when immigration officials from host nation Brazil refused to allow them into the country fearing they may be carrying the Yellow Fever virus.

The Lithuanians held their main training camp for the tournament on the Caribbean island of Martinique and had planned to fly direct to Sao Paulo for their opening game but when their planned flight was cancelled, they were forced to make other arrangements which involved a stop-over in French Guyana, a country on the northeastern corner of South America which is designated as an area where yellow fever is prevalent.

Brazilian law states that people entering the country from regions affected by yellow fever can only enter the country if they have had appropriate vaccinations, but the Lithuanian squad had not been inoculated against the disease because their touchdown in French Guyana was unplanned.

FIBA, basketball’s world governing body quickly intervened and Brazilian authorities waived the standard 10-day quarantine period after health checks in the northeastern Brazilian city of Belem determined that there was only a miniscule chance that the Lithuanians could have come into contact with the disease.

Nevertheless, the Lithuanians' quick release from quarantine did not come quickly enough to make it to Sao Paulo in time for the tip-off against the Australians and they were forced to forfeit the game and the Australians were awarded a 2-0 technical victory.

The Lithuanians showed that the ordeal had not affected them and in their second game they handed Group B rivals Canada a crushing 84-58 defeat to keep their qualification hopes alive for the knockout stages.