Santo Domingo will host the FIBA Americas World Championship Qualifying Tournament, set for Aug. 24-Sept. 4. The event determines the FIBA Americas zone?s five qualifying spots for the 2006 FIBA World Championship. Argentina had already qualified for the event by winning the gold medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics but is expected to send a team to the tournament. The other contenders are Canada, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico and host Dominican Republic from the Central and Caribbean zone; and Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela from South America zone. Two preliminary round groups of five each will play. The championship will take place at the Virgilio Travieso Soto Palacio de los Deportes in the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center.