Panama/Panama is a country where basketball, at some point in its history, had a privileged place, which has been lost little by little until it became diluted and bordered on international shame.
In this context, the Panamanian Basketball Federation (Fepaba) presented last Friday to the Argentine Gonzalo Garcia as the one in charge of directing the senior national team and carrying out the titanic task of washing the face of Panamanian basketball at an international level.
More pain than joy
Between 2022 and 2023, the Panamanians had 14 defeats and only 3 wins in the international tournaments in which they participated.
This statistic does not include the results of the qualifier towards the Paris 2024 Olympic Gamesbecause Panama did not attend and is awaiting a sanction from the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).
The current president of Fepaba, Abdiel Blancoconfirmed that “FIBA has an open process”after the previous administration decided not to send a representative to the Olympic Pre-Classification Tournament.
To alleviate the possible penalty, it was decided to go to the Panamerican Games held between October and November 2023 in Santiago, Chile, Blanco added.
Panama, after not playing the Olympic qualifier in which it would face Argentina, Cuba and Bahamas and with a completely improvised team, he saw no light in the Pan American Games Santiago 2023falling in his three outings.
In the Pan-American tournament, the Panamanians placed in the eighth place out of eight participants, and closed their international participation in 2023 with an 89-49 defeat against their counterpart from Puerto Rico.
An optimistic coach.
Gonzalo García / Photo: Fepaba
García brings new air to the Panamanian team, despite the fact that there are many things to do to lift a discipline that has been in decline in recent years.
Proof of this is that the last triumph of a Panamanian senior basketball team occurred in February 2023, the year in which they finished with one victory and five losses, the same occurred in the classification towards the Fiba World Cupthis being against the Bahamas squad.
The new coach inherits a team with a median age of 29.6 years, with players with a lot of international experience and some rookies who try to provide youthful vertigo.
In his presentation days ago, García was precise in saying that he will respect those experienced players who have given everything for the national team, but at the same time he will look at those youth players, meaning that there will be greater competition in the national team.
“He came with a great desire to work for the common good of Panamanian basketball, not only for the senior team, but also for the development of the base, so I don’t expect them to trust us at all”indicated the coach.
García’s journey leading the Panama team will begin next February, with the Fiba Americup 2025 qualifier, in round-trip duels (February 23-26) against Uruguay.
“I hope that the local’s first game against Uruguay blows up the Roberto Durán Arena”García stressed.
In the last FIBA Americup qualifying round in 2021, the Panamanians added wins, one of them against the Uruguayans and two against Paraguay.
In the 2022 Fiba Americup, Panama finished with a 0-3 record, where they shared Group B with the United States, Mexico and Venezuela.
2024-01-10 16:29:58
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