Building from their success at Seoul, the Opals headed to Malaysia for the 1990 World Championships with high hopes. The team won their first two games against Malaysia and Italy, before suffering a string of losses to Bulgaria, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. In their final game, the Opals came back from seven point halftime deficit to beat Bulgaria 73–71 and finish in sixth place. Fifteen teams competed for the five open spots at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and despite a respectable 4–2 record at the preliminary tournament, the Opals did not qualify.