SAN JUAN (FIBA U18 Women’s Americas Championship 2018) – The International Basketball Federation in the Americas and the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation announced that Aguada will host the 2017 edition of the Centrobasket U17 Women’s Championship.

"Sports in Puerto Rico are for everyone and the Departamento de Recreacion y Deportes de Puerto Rico is proud to have the opportunity of supporting such initiatives as the Centrobasket U17 Women’s Championship, where more than eight countries including Puerto Rico will be part of an event that will mark precedents in the western side of our Island. We feel extremely honored to be able to collaborate with the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation for these purposes and to promote the development of women, who in the past years have played a leading role in all the professional areas in our country and are part of the public policy of our honorable Governor Ricardo Rossello and this new administration. Thus, our commitment is with Puerto Rico and with the Puerto Rican and foreign women who will be embellishing the history of our sport," said the Director of the Sports and Recreation Department of Puerto Rico, Hon. Waldemar Volmar Méndez.

"I feel privileged and honored that Aguada is selected as the venue for these games nationwide. We have seen how our people have been an alternative to the development of the Puerto Rican sport. We have excellent facilities, with the human resource specialized in sports and more than anything else the will and commitment to the sports development of our people and an example of this is our team of Santeros, who enjoys having one of the best fan bases of all Puerto Rico. As we have supported that team we will also support this event, and are looking forward to the month of July to welcome all the participants," said the Honorable Mayor of Aguada, Manuel" Gabina "Santiago.

"The Puerto Rican Basketball Federation is honored that FIBA has chosen us as the host country of the Centrobasket U17 Women’s Championship. Our Federation has a total commitment to the development of women's basketball in Puerto Rico. We want to thank the Municipality of Aguada and the Department of Sports and Recreation for their collaboration and support," said the President of the Puerto Rican Basketball National Federation (FBPUR), Yum E. Ramos.

The Centrobasket U17 Women’s Championship will be played August 15-19 and will feature the participation of the National Teams from Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Surinam.  

The Draw for the Centrobasket U17 Women’s Championship will be held on Thursday, May 25 at the Regional Offices of FIBA Americas and broadcasted live in Spanish on FIBA’s Oddicial YouTube Channel.

During the Draw, the participating teams will be divided in two (2) groups of four (4) teams on each.

The pairs for the Centrobasket U17 Women’s Championship Draw are:

POT 1: Bahamas – El Salvador
POT 2: Surinam – British Virgin Islands
POT 3: Costa Rica - Guatemala
POT 4: Puerto Rico - Mexico

The competition system of the tournament consists of two phases. In the Group Phase, the eight (8) participating teams will be divided into two (2) groups of four (4) teams. Teams will play in round-robin format for three days. The best two teams from each group will advance to the next phase, where the first place of Group A will play against the second place in Group B and vice versa. The winners of the Semi-Finals will advance to the Gold Medal Match, while the losers will play for the bronze of the continental event.

The top-three teams from the tournament will qualify to the FIBA U18 Women’s Americas Championship 2018.

FIBA