Like Spain and Venezuela, Dominican Republic has decided to send a veteran national team to the FIBA Basketball World Cup that begins on August 31 in China. On the team's final list, seven players are over 30 years old.
The list goes as follows:
Eulis Baez (forward), Luis David Montero (forward), Sadiel Rojas (guard), Juan Jose Garcia (forward), Dagoberto Pena (guard), Gelvis Solano (guard), Victor Liz (guard), Ronald Ramon (guard), Juan Miguel Suero (guard), Rigoberto Mendoza (guard), Ronald Roberts Jr. (forward), Eloy Vargas (center).
Gelvis Solano (R) of Dominican Republic handles the ball in a warm-up game against Spain, August 22, 2019. /VCG Photo
The seven over-30-year-old players attended most of Dominican Republic's World Cup qualifiers – in fact, 33-year-old Liz played in all 12 of them. Moreover, 25-year-old Solano became the youngest guy of the roster. Thanks to his remarkable performance during the qualifiers, head coach Nestor "Che" Garcia picked Solano instead of 35-year-old Adris De Leon.
The bad news for coach Garcia is that the country's two NBA stars, Al Horford and Karl-Anthony Towns, will not join him for the World Cup. Nonetheless, the good news is that four players of this national team played at the 2014 World Cup in Spain - Baez, Ramon, Vargas and Liz.
Players of Dominican Republic pose for a group photo before a game against Ukraine at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain, August 30, 2014. /VCG Photo
Dominican Republic are no strangers to the World Cup (World Championship). In 1978 they played at the tournament for the first time in the Philippines. Though the team failed to win any game back then, they managed to change that five years ago in Spain. The team defeated New Zealand and Finland to make the Round of 16 before being knocked out by Slovenia.
The Dominicans are in Group G with France, Germany and Jordan. They will meet their first opponent Jordan at the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Center on September 1.