Puerto Rico’s women’s basketball team is going to the 2024 Summer Olympics

The Puerto Rican team ascended to 11th place in the new International Basketball Federation (FIBA) chart. (Image via FBPUR).

By Mivette Vega

February 20, 2024

This is the second consecutive time that the Puerto Rican women’s team has qualified for the Olympic Games.

The Puerto Rico women’s national basketball team continues its remarkable journey, securing a spot in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and advancing in global rankings.

The team got its ticket to Paris 2024 with a dramatic victory last Saturday, winning 69-67 over New Zealand.

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This is the second consecutive time that the Puerto Rican women’s team has qualified for the Olympic Games. They debuted at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games.

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will be held from July 26 to August 11, 2024.

That good news coincides with the team rising by one step in the new International Basketball Federation (FIBA) charts. The Puerto Rican team ascended to 11th place, after displacing Nigeria, which is now in 12th.

The team will now focus on its preparation for Paris 2024. In fact, it has already begun to receive invitations to be part of preparatory tournaments for said event, Jerry Batista, the team’s coach, told Primera Hora.

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Batista highlighted the achievement of the players, saying that they do not have the same resources as their opponents from other countries such as New Zealand and China, and yet they qualified.

“The other (countries) prepared in a superior way. New Zealand, for example, stopped its tournament to prepare. Brazil has more resources and played the pre-Olympic at home. And yet, we qualified. The classification reaffirms the growth of the program. We qualified again instead of backing down,” Batista told the newspaper.

Author

Mivette Vega

Mivette Vega is a seasoned journalist and multimedia reporter whose stories center the Latino community. She is passionate about justice, equality, environmental matters, and animals. She is a Salvadorrican—Salvadorian that grew up in Puerto Rico—that has lived in San Juan, Venice, Italy, and Miami.

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CATEGORIES: COMMUNITY | SPORTS

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