The Dominican national basketball team is ranked 19th in the world and is one of six teams that will seek to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games during the summer of 2024.
The DR got a last chance when the team finished in 14th place at the World Cup. That qualified the team for the OQTs as one of the best 16 remaining teams that did not advance directly to the Summer Olympics.
The Dominican Republic team has never made it to the Summer Olympics. FIBA Basketball is following the team’s participation over the years. The news release says that the Dominican team has participated twice in an OQT. The DR was just one victory from making their Olympic debut in 2012 when the team beat North Macedonia in the Quarter-Finals in Venezuela but then lost to Lithuania 109-83 in the Semi-Finals. The Dominicans had one more chance but lost to Nigeria 88-73 in the Third Place Game to decide the final team to head to London.
The Dominican Republic finished sixth at the FIBA AmeriCup 2015 to miss out on the OQT for 2016. In the 2020 OQT Belgrade, they lost to Serbia and beat the Philippines in the group stage. In the Knockout Phase, the Dominican Republic could not handle Italy, losing 79-59 in the Semi-Finals.
FIBA Basketball reports: “Dominican Republic face a tough task as they try to get through the OQT Greece. Their nominally easiest game will probably be to start Group B with Egypt – though the Americas side struggled against African team Angola at last summer’s FIBA World Cup.
The second game will be against hosts Greece, who will have the great support of the Peace and Friendship Stadium crowd.”
The two top teams from both Groups A and B advance to the Semi-Finals and the Dominicans would have to face one of Croatia, New Zealand, and Slovenia with another victory in the Final needed to reach the Paris Olympics.
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FIBA
N Digital
DR1 News
6 May 2024