COMODORO RIVADAVIA (Argentina) - With Nestor 'Che' Garcia announced as new Head Coach, the Dominican Republic will travel to Shenzhen to begin the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 against Jordan on September 1. The Caribbean team will also face France and Germany in the Chinese city.

Eloy Vargas was a leading force for the Dominicans during the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Americas Qualifiers, and hopes to be at the premier competition of basketball during the summer.

FIBA.Basketball caught up with the Dominican Republic’s Eloy Vargas days after the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Draw.

Dominican Republic is going to play in the group G against France, Germany and Jordan. What are your thoughts about the group?
It’s a tough group, with very competitive teams and it’s going to be interesting to compete against all of them. France and Germany have many talented players and they are used to play at this high level, as they have many NBA players and guys that are in the top European teams. I don’t know that much about Jordan, but if they are qualified, it means that they have a competitive team too. We have to play every game with high intensity and make the best out the opportunity to play at the FIBA World Cup 2019.

The crowd in China is waiting for all the teams to come….
I am sure that is going to be a very good tournament. China has been having an amazing basketball fan base and I am sure that we are going to have support from the local fans in there. It’s a great opportunity and a great thing to play a tournament like the FIBA World Cup in China; everything is going to be very good. The arenas, the competitiveness and the crowds, we are all looking forward to it.

The last window has been very tense for Dominican Republic, with the qualification reached in the last game despite a loss against Brazil.
It was tough, tense but we did it. It was such a relief for us to have reached a spot to China 2019, such a big relief, as we knew that we weren’t completely in control of the situation and were battling with Uruguay for the spot. We went through different kinds of emotions, but at the end of the day, we punched our ticket to China 2019, which was our goal since the first day of the qualifying campaign. We know that we can and that we will do better, and we are very motivated for the next months to come.

You played in 10 games during those qualifiers. How do you feel about the impact you have been having on the national team?
My goal is always to do my best to help the team win and to be impactful on both ends of the floor. I have been playing for the national team for some years now, and I am trying to be a good example for the young players and be a great teammate. I think that I had some good games in those qualifiers, but the most important was to reach the qualification no matter what. The most important is too looking forward and keep improving as a team, with every player working hard with the same goal of playing as one in order to represent our country the best way.

You already played in a FIBA World Cup before, in 2014 in Spain. What do you remember from the experience?
It was a very good experience, an absolutely good one to learn and gain experience at international level. The tournament was very competitive, and despite having some ups and downs during it, we gained experience and we did show that Dominican basketball is competitive. It’s always great to be competing against the best players and teams on the planet, and every time you can do so, that is such a great opportunity for a player to participate in this kind of tournament.

What would be the goal for Dominican Republic in China 2019?
We are going to go to China to play at our best level and have the best campaign we can achieve. We know that our group is very talented and we want to show the world that our national team is competitive and can compete at this high level. We have still a couple of months to get ready for the tournament, but we want to shine in China. We want to make our fellow compatriots proud and happy about our performances.

Some people think that Karl Anthony Towns and Al Horford could join the team this summer…
That would be very good additions for us, that is for sure. They are very talented and have guys of this calibre playing for the national team is always good. I don’t know if that took their decision yet, but that would be interesting and great to count on them.

FIBA