The Argentine basketball team sets off in search of the great goal that remains on the horizon after the enormous disappointment of being left out of the World Cup: starting the road to the Olympic Games. The first step will be to face the Bahamas this Wednesday from 9:10 p.m. at the Santiago del Estero city stadium within the framework of the FIBA Olympic Pre-qualifier looking for a place in the World Playoffs next year.
The second match will be on Thursday at 10:10 p.m. against Cuba at the Vicente Rosales de Olímpico stadium, in La Banda. It will not be in the Panama area, which dropped out of the contest.
The first two of each group will qualify for the semifinals. Then, the winner of this Olympic Prequalifier will get a ticket to one of the four FIBA Olympic Qualifiers to be held from July 2 to 7, 2024.
Next year’s Olympic Qualifier will be held in four zones-venues of six teams each, granting the winner of each one a ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The other places will be directly from the World Cup, in which Argentina will not play .
For this purpose, Argentina made a preparation in Europe that included friendlies in Alicante, Barcelona and Brno before arriving in Santiago del Estero.
After joining the squad in recent days to face the final stretch of the set-up, Gabriel Deck will have his place among the 12. The man from Santiago was evaluated by the team’s technical and medical staff on his favorable recovery after the injury in his left knee, added minutes of training, participated in the friendly against the U22 Team and says he is on the list.
“I don’t have knee pain, I lack a bit of rhythm, but I’m fine physically. I’ve been working hard these days to get in the best shape. I will be there to contribute as much as I can for the team and for the National Team, as always”, said the 28-year-old forward, leaving behind the injury to his left knee last May.
With Prigioni as coach, Deck was part of the squad that won the 2022 AmeriCup in Recife, Brazil. “I am very happy to be here, to see the boys again. I am happy to be part of the 12, enjoying myself and continuing to get well to add as much as I can”, added Tortu.
The squad will include Luca Vildoza, Maximo Fjellerup, Facundo Campazzo, Nicolas Brussino, Carlos Delfino, Francisco Caffaro, Gabriel Deck, Gonzalo Bressan, Juan Fernandez, Tomás Chapero, Patricio Garino and Lucio Redivo.
The action of the tournament began on Monday with the victory of Juan Manuel Córdoba’s Chile by 62 to 61 against the Virgin Islands, of Uruguay against Colombia by 80 to 65 and of the Bahamas against Cuba by 109 to 68. The great candidate seems to be the Bahamas, with NBA potential in the hands of Eric Gordon, Deandre Ayton, David Nesbitt and Buddy Hield.
2023-08-16 04:02:49
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