Jhivvan Jackson, NCAA points leader for a Latino, receives permission to change sports citizenship

Jhivvan Jackson, historic scoring leader for a Latino player in the NCAA, could represent Panama internationally in the near future.

On Monday, the Puerto Rico Basketball Federation (Fbpur) reported, through a written communication, that it granted permission to the Puerto Rican point guard to change his sports citizenship.

Jackson, born to a Puerto Rican mother and a Panamanian father, scored 2,551 points during his four seasons with UTSA in American college basketball.

The 6’0″ point guard, grandson of the emblematic Latin American head coach Flor Meléndez, recorded a total of 22.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 115 games. He made his professional debut this year with the Menorca club in the third division of Spain.

Jackson belonged to the youth teams of Puerto Rico and debuted with the U17 team at the 2015 Centrobasket. He then wore the Puerto Rican number again at the FIBA ​​U18 Americas Championship in 2016.

The decision comes a few days after Jackson communicated his desire to represent Panama, after not being called up on the Puerto Rican roster for the FIBA ​​summer window. His grandfather, Flor, is the current coach of the Panamanian national team.

Puerto Rico is in third place in Group D with a 2-2 record. He returns to the court against the United States and Mexico, on July 1 and 4, respectively, at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan.

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