This Saturday, starting at 9:30 am, Argentina will debut in the FIBA U17 World Cup that will start in the Hungarian city of Debrecen. It will be the third historical participation of the Selection in these contests.
In the next few hours, the sixth edition of the U17 Women’s World Cup will begin, based in the city of Debrecen, Hungary, and with the participation of 16 teams. Argentina will integrate Group B of the tournament, in a zone in which it will compete together with Australia, France and Slovenia. The first hurdle will be the French team, this Saturday at 9:30 (Argentine time).
The albiceleste delegation landed on Hungarian soil on Wednesday, having its first practice on Thursday morning. With Laura González as coach, the 12 players that make up the squad are: Juana Amaya, Luz Andújar, Ema Baldo, Julia Bosque, Alma Bourgarel, Delfina Cergneux, Victoria Fontana, Angelina Giacone, Dagmar Hentschel, Nerea Lagowski, Paula López and Malena Maggi .
The professional staff is completed by Mariano Marcos (assistant), Agustín Lukac (assistant), Gisela Marcos Castillo (physical trainer), María Alejandra Valdez (doctor), Cristian Pasut (kinesiologist), Nicolás Avedikian (props) and Vicente Castellaño (head of equipment).
As part of the calendar of the first phase, the National Team will debut this Saturday against France from 9:30 a.m., while the second date will be on Sunday against Australia at 7:30 a.m. Monday will be a rest day for all the teams in the tournament, while on Tuesday the zone will be closed against Slovenia, also from 7:30.
Regardless of their group ranking, all teams will advance to the next round, the Round of 16. There, the members of Group B from Argentina will have to face the cast of Group A (Mexico, Hungary, Belgium and Japan), although of course depending on their location in the area they will have a different crossover. The keys will be 1°B vs. 4th A, 2nd Bvs. 3rdA, 2ndAvs. 3rd B and 1st A vs. 4°B. The same will be for both groups C (Egypt, Canada, Spain and Korea) and D (Germany, United States, Mali and New Zealand).
The round of 16 will be played on Wednesday the 13th, to then have a new rest day on Thursday. On Friday the 15th will be the quarterfinals, on Saturday the semifinals will be played and on Sunday the 17th will be the grand final of the tournament. Of course, those selected that do not pass their respective qualifying rounds will continue playing until the last day of the tournament, fighting for positions 9 to 16 as indicated by the format of these World Cups and with the intention that all teams can have competition as part fundamental of a formative stage, determining to continue growing and developing.
Let us remember that Argentina qualified for the current U17 after having achieved fourth place in the FIBA Americas U16 in Guanajuato (Mexico). A year ago, the National Team, at that time directed by Sandra Pavón and with Lali González as assistant, achieved their pass after beating Brazil in the quarterfinals by a hard-fought 56-54. With this, the three classified by America for this World Cup were the United States, Canada, Mexico and Argentina.
This will be the third U17 World Cup for our country, remembering that it participated in the first edition, in France 2010, and in the last installment that took place in Belarus 2018. Players like Meli Gretter, Diana Cabrera, Mica Sancisi, Rocío Díaz, Julieta Vázquez and Julieta Armesto in 2010; and Florencia Chagas, Candela Gentinetta, Victoria Gauna, Brenda Fontana, Lucía Operto, Sofía Acevedo and Cami Lignac in 2018; among others, they knew how to defend the colors of the national team in these U17. The best position that Argentina achieved in said contest was 9th place in 2010 (in Minsk 2018 it finished 13th).
Argentina National Team U17
Juana Amaya | 1.63 | 08-09-2005 | Harrods Gath and Chavez
Andujar light | 1.73 | 2005-07-16 | Wilde Sporting
Ema Baldo | 1.90 | 10-14-2006 | Valencia Basketball Club (Spain)
Julia Forest | 1.81 | 03-01-2006 | Centennial Sports Association
Alma Bourgarel | 1.70 | 08-11-2006 | Obras Basketball
Delphine Cergneux | 1.83 | 02-27-2005 | Thomas of Rocamora
Victoria Fontana | 1.74 | 07-03-2005 | Velez Sarsfield
Angelina Giacone | 1.82 | 09-15-2005 | RPB workshops
Dagmar Hentschel | 1.70 | 02-02-2005 | Obra’s Basket
Nerea Lagowski | 1.95 | 09-08-2006 | RPB workshops
Paula Lopez | 1.73 | 06-11-2005 | NB Paterna (Spain)
Malena Maggie | 1.86 | 10-24-2006 | Harrods Gath and Chavez
First Phase Fixture of Argentina (Group B)
Saturday July 9
9:30 am | France vs. Argentina
Sunday July 10
7:30 | Argentina vs. Australia
Tuesday July 12
7:30 | Argentina vs. Eslovenia
