After the resignation of the Los Ríos Region club, the FebaChile board decided to nominate the Penquista club, mainly so as not to lose its place in the international tournament that replaced the Liga de Las Américas and which will be played with the bubble format. sanitary.
A quick determination was made by the Chilean Basketball Federation (FebaChile) regarding the Chilean representative in the next Americas Champions League, after the defection of Deportivo Valdivia. The governing body of national basketball decided to nominate the University of Concepción, a team that will have to compete in group B of the contest from January 31.
The determination, explained in FebaChile, was taken mainly to avoid the loss of the Chilean quota in the contest organized by FIBA Americas, among other aspects to consider. “Valdivia’s resignation was unfortunate news for us, because as the federation’s board of directors we had chosen them since they were the Chilean basketball champion. Beyond that, we look for a club that gives us peace of mind for a long time, given that the Champions League is a project that tends to have the best clubs in the best league in America”says the president of the federation, Iran Arcos.
“It is a determination of the FebaChile board to determine the representative in the Champions League. It cost us a lot as a federation to obtain a place in this tournament, and we met after Valdivia informed his decision because there was the possibility of losing the place, in fact, names of clubs from other countries were given, and there they were set as parameters to take The decision is sports, institutional and economic-financial, since this is three years, so as not to have to worry each year about whether or not to participate for different reasons”, adds Arcos on determination.
FebaChile’s decision must be confirmed by the tournament organization, so that the University of Concepción is part of group B, which will have its first window in Buenos Aires against the current champion, Quimsa from Argentina, and Sao Paulo from Brazil, in the first of the three bubbles that the tournament has before the end of March.
COMPLICATION WITH HEALTH REGULATIONS
In the box of the Los Ríos Region, its sports manager, Guillermo Bittner, explains the reasons that led them to withdraw from their participation is related to the current health measures related to the management of the covid-19 pandemic in the country.
“We gave up playing after having made many steps, both direct and indirect, even through the federation, to have exempted ourselves from the quarantine that had to be made mandatory upon return to Chile. That was not possible, we did not have the level of contacts to reach the minister (of Sports, Cecilia Pérez) and have settled the situation, and also the window of premises in Valdivia could not be guaranteed, because foreign clubs should be subject to the same regulation, which forced us to carry out the localization in Santiago or even abroad”, Explain.
Deportivo Valdivia withdrew from his participation in the Basketball Champions League Americas due to health complications. Photo: LNB
–
In fact, in the first, they wanted the same protocol to be applied as to soccer clubs that participate in matches abroad, a management that the University of Concepción would also be carrying out. “We see that soccer has certain facilities that basketball, at least in the case of our club, could not access. Given this, we had to make that painful decision, but we have to make determinations according to certainties and at the time we defined this we did not have them”, so Bittner.
Currently, the Penquista team is also not sure of being able to carry out its local bubble in Concepción, something that will have to work with both the health and sports authorities, although the club is aware that it will depend on the development of the pandemic in the country.
–
