Santo Domingo will welcome their national team for the first time in eight years

SANTO DOMINGO (FIBA Basketball World Cup Americas Qualifiers 2019) -- When he was 12-years old, Rigoberto Mendoza witnessed how the Dominican Republic’s National Team conquered the gold medal at the 2004 Centrobasket before a full house at the Palacio de los Deportes Stadium in Santo Domingo.

Fourteen years later, the shooting guard nicknamed “el Vikingo” will be at the Palacio, but this time, not as a fan, but as a player of the Dominican side that returns to the capital's facility for the first time since 2010.

On Monday, the Dominican Republic will welcome Bahamas at Group D’s final game of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Americas Qualifiers 2019 in a game that will take place at the same venue. For the Domincan side, this will be their first official game at such stage since the 2010 Centrobasket.

“We all have dreamed of playing with the Dominican niform. Once, when I was a child, I dreamed and saw the National Team played at the Palacio in 2004 when we won the gold at Centrobasket. On Monday we have the chance of playing at the Palacio, the same thing that we watched the National Team too. And now we have the chance of wearing the Dominicana jersey and give a good show,” said Mendoza to Fiba.basketball.

 For Mendoza this will be the first time wearing the Dominican uniform in front of the Santo Domingo fans. “It will be a pleasant moment for us in the National Team and a chance to give the public the victory they deserve,” stated Mendoza, who pointed out how special it is to play in the capital.

“Firstly, we have the public in our favor. It’s special because a lot of people from mi neighborhood, from my town, will go there and that’s an extra motivation --besides the fact that we must win the game,” stressed the player born in San Cristóbal who was the greatest scorer for the Republic in the Qualifiers, with 13.8 points.

For his part, coach Melvyn López seemed very happy to play in Santo Domingo. For the first window that took place last November, Domincan Republic played their first two local games at Santiago de los Caballeros.

“It’s exciting that our National Team can play in our country again and, in this case, in front of a fanbase like Santo Domingo’s, which is a city where basketball reigns. For us it’ll be a great satisfaction to show our team in the Palacio de los Deportes stage,” said López.

The Dominican strategist expects that the quintet receive the support of the public and that people come from nearby areas.

“Everyone in the Dominican Republic follows the basketball national team. I think that the province of Santo Domingo, as well as the National District, and other provinces like Cristóbal, Santiago and La Romana will come to support [the team]. We will have a great public that day,” López pointed out.

The Dominicans have a 4-1 record at the Americas Group D and secured their ticket to the second stage of the windows, which begin in September.

(The Dominican Basketball Federation's press colaborated with this story)

FIBA