The Dominican Republic’s women and men teams qualified in Centro Basket 1999, held in Havana, Cuba, to participate in the Winnipeg, Canada Pan Am Games that start 23 July. The DR defeated Panama 86-74 in the finals after having lost the silver medal to Puerto Rico by one point, the previous day. Franklin Western was the key offensive player with 33 points and five rebounds. Ricardo Greer followed scoring 16 points. Coach Boyón Domínguez said that the team did a tremendous job especially when considering it was not able to train as a unit. In the Pan Am Games, Central America and the Caribbean will be represented by Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. The Dominican women’s basketball team won the silver medal, falling only to Cuba 117-61 in the final game. Mexico won the bronze in the women’s division. The DR men’s team won bronze in 1997, silver in 1995 and gold in 1977. The women’s team had won bronze in 1997 and 1995, silver in 1989, bronze in 1985, silver in 1988, bronze in 1975.
