The captain of the Dominican men’s basketball team that qualified to play in the World Basketball Championship in Spain told the press yesterday, Thursday 12 September that the team representing the DR at the important championship should be the same as the one that qualified at the Caracas FIBA Americas tournament. Jack Michael Martinez is still unhappy at the Dominican Republic’s best basketball player, Al Horford who plays for the Atlanta Hawks, for choosing not to play the championship.
As quoted in El Caribe, Martinez said: “Al’s excuse was that he was tired, that he needed to rest. Well he can keep on resting so he is much better to play with his NBA team,” said Martinez. Horford had said that he was committed to taking part in the Basketball without Frontiers program with the Hawks team that was traveling to South Africa at the time, as reported in Diario Libre.
Martinez also objected to Charlie Villanueva or Luis Flores making the team to the World Games.
“Francisco (Garcia) and myself feel good, we felt abandoned, the same as the rest of the group, but for now we will stay with the same team for the Worlds,” he said, in response to reporters’ questions upon arriving to Las Americas from Venezuela.
After the Dominican team qualified, Al Horford had been quoted saying he would be willing to join the team. The World Championships will decide the teams that qualify to play in the Rio Olympics.
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