Last week, while all the attention was focused on the start of the Soccer World Cup, the women’s basketball team of our country won, for the third time in a row, the Centrobasket championship held in Chihuahua, Mexico. They won dominantly by beating Guatemala, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Mexico in handy fashion. It should be noted that until 10 years ago Cuba was the power of the region and on this occasion, even though Puerto Rico was missing important figures such as Mia Hollyngshed, Trinity San Antonio and Jazmon Gwatney (to name a few), it managed to demolish the opposition. being his closest game by 19 points against Santo Domingo. That speaks well of how the boricua women’s boricua national program has continued to improve and evolve.
Unfortunately, the fact that the tournament did not receive the attention it deserved has to do with the fact that the games were not broadcast by any local television channel, which is extremely disappointing considering that this team had just reached the top eight teams in the Women’s World Cup and ranked among the top ten teams in the world. This would never have happened if it had been a men’s tournament.
FIBA also failed
The fact that the games were not broadcast locally made it necessary to search for them on the internet through the FIBA YouTube page. Unfortunately, the transmission left a lot to be desired since the assigned narrators had a total ignorance of women’s basketball. At times they made completely off-the-cuff comments and gave more greetings than narration or commentary on what was happening in the game.
FIBA also failed to provide an adequate field because the Puerto Rican coach, Jerry Batista, made a very serious complaint about how the game was played without heating and in dangerous conditions for the players. That cannot continue to happen and we will report it until it is corrected.
Our women’s team deserves our respect and congratulations. Despite the adversity, right now you represent the best overall team in the country and the effort and sacrifice you have put in shows. Go ahead girls!
