Ramon Santos Lantigua |
Santo Domingo (EFE).- The Dominican Republic is experiencing a true “basketball fever”, after the recent victory of its team over Argentina, which gave it its third consecutive pass to a World Cup and which will translate into greater financial support for the team national.
Fernando Teruel, for many years the coach of the Dominican team and who has to his credit being the first to professionally train Antonio “Chicho” Sibilio, who shone with the Spanish team, Barcelona, spoke to EFE about what this “amazing” triumph means. and Taugrés Vitoria, as well as Alfred Horford, the first Dominican to play in the American NBA and father of Al Horford, of the Boston Celtics.
For Teruel, qualifying for the World Cup will motivate many young people from the Dominican Republic to practice basketball, consolidates an accumulated effort of years and will “stimulate” the business community to give greater financial support to the national team.
He added that last Sunday’s victory in Mar de Plata (Argentina) is the result of work in the lower categories, Dominican players recruited abroad and the “abundance of talent” in national tournaments such as Santo Domingo, Santiago (north of the country) and San Pedro de Macorís (east).
“Undoubtedly, after this extraordinary victory over a rival of the level of Argentina, sponsorships will increase because there are many market studies that indicate the advantages of investing in basketball (…) There will even be international companies that will be interested in contributing to the national jacket”, said Teruel.
For the also physical educator, the qualification for the World Cup has started a “basketball fever” in the Dominican Republic because “many people” begin to see this sport as they see baseball, with an “infinite” future to forge economic hopes and of studies in the United States.
“In the particular case of basketball, this expands to Europe, to countries like Spain, where there has already been a respectable presence of Dominicans, among which the recent incorporation of Jean Montero stands out, the versatile and young player, who was one of the heroes of the victory over the Argentines”, he added.
Montero, 19, scored 22 points in the second half of the game to become a vital piece in the triumph of the squad led by Argentine Néstor “Che” García. The Dominican joined Spanish side Real Betis in two matches earlier this season.
“I think that not only baseball is a country brand, but also basketball, which could not be left behind and now it shows it again with its third consecutive ticket to a World Cup (…) Today the whole world is talking about the victory of Dominican Republic, that is extraordinary”, he highlighted.
In his opinion, Dominican NBA players like Horford, Chris Duarte and Karl-Anthony Towns, of a Dominican mother, will be “interested” in being part of the Dominican team before the team is definitively structured with a view to the World Cup that It will be held between August and September in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. The three have already uniformed with the tricolor team.
“The (Dominican) Government, the companies, the practice in the minor categories, the work of the Federation (of basketball) are promoting an interesting national movement with the celebration of tournaments in all the provinces of the country, to which we should add the strengthening of scientific training programs for talented players and the training of coaches and referees”, commented Teruel.
In fact, according to the EnHogar-2022 survey of the National Statistics Office of the Dominican Republic, basketball has surpassed baseball as the most practiced discipline in the country: 30.2 percent of those interviewed prefer to practice basketball compared to 29, 3 percent who opt for baseball.