Puerto Rico Secures Historic Olympic Qualification at FIBA Women’s Pre-Olympic Tournament

Puerto Rico’s participation in the FIBA ​​Women’s Pre-Olympic tournament held in Xi’An, China, concluded this morning with a challenge played to define which of these two teams would finish in second position in the tournament. And the result has been in favor of the Asians, who prevailed over the Puerto Ricans in the final 105-69.

But the result does not at all cloud the fact that Puerto Rico achieved its goal in the tournament, which was to strike out its second Olympic qualification in history, which they did on Saturday by defeating New Zealand.

The home run, in fact, granted two tickets to the Paris 2024 Olympics. The other was claimed by China, also thanks to its victory over New Zealand. Meanwhile, France, which played at the venue and finished undefeated, did not need to claim a ticket because it is classified for the Olympic Games due to its status as the host country of the tournament.

In the game against China today, Arella Guirantes led Puerto Rico’s offense with 27 points. Brianna Jones, for her part, contributed 11.

Mia Hollingshed takes a try during the match. (FIBA) (Supplied)

China won each of the first three quarters of the game by respective scores of 24-11, 30-23 and 33-8. The Puerto Ricans claimed the end 27-18.

“We were facing a great team from China. We fell behind very early in the game, but I think it was a good game,” said Puerto Rico’s manager, Gerardo “Jerry” Batista, in the press conference after the game, echoing words he has expressed before that recognize that the The level of China and other countries is still far ahead of that of the Guerreras, but being able to fight with them in this type of international tournament will serve to step by step elevate women’s basketball in Puerto Rico.

Meng Le and Yeuru Le led China’s offense with 23 and 22 points.

“My respects always go to China, they have a fantastic team,” said veteran Tayra Meléndez.

2024-02-11 13:16:55
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