The president of the Dominican Basketball Federation promoted 46-year old Nestor David Diaz to coach the Dominican national basketball team in the upcoming Americup tournament. The announcement comes after Argentinean coach Nestor (Che) García resigned when hired by a Saudi Arabian team.
Diaz has been assistant coach staff since 2015 with the senior team. He will be assisted by Abraham Disla, Julio Duquela y Jonathan Sarnelly Matos.
The next important commitment of the Dominican senior basketball team is on 23 February at the Palacio de los Deportes in Santo Domingo. The team will then fly to Mexico for a game on 26 February. These are the first games for the team to qualify to participate in the 2025 Americup.
The team will be participating in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments in July 2024. The DR will play Egypt and Greece in Group B. The qualifying tournaments give the last slots for teams to participate in the Paris Summer Olympic Games. The team will travel to Greece for the matches.
In the Dominican Republic, Diaz has coached the champion teams of the national basketball league. He is a former national team player, competing in 1998 in the Central American and Caribbean Games team that won gold.
The Dominican Republic senior men’s team is ranked 18th in the world.
Rafael Uribe, president of Fedombal, is confident the Argentinian coach will be back to coach the team after what he expects will just be a temporary commitment with the Middle East team.
Read more in Spanish:
Dominican Basketball Federation
FIBA
FIBA
FEDOMBAL
16 January 2024