BRA - Brazil name 13-man squad for U19 Worlds

RIO DE JANEIRO (2011 FIBA U19 World Championship) - Brazil have named a 13-man squad as they finalise the national team that will play the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship in Latvia.

Of the 13 players, nine play professionally in the Novo Basquete Brasil (NBB), the premier men's league in the country.

Among the 13 players is Raúl Togni Neto, who helped Brazil to a second place finish at last year's FIBA Americas U18 Championship and then went on to be the youngest player on the senior national team that finished ninth at the FIBA World Championship in Turkey.

The team is making its way to Latvia on Tuesday where it will play exhibition games on 11, 12 and 14 June.

Brazil will then head to Lithuania for more preparation games, starting with a double-header against Lithuania (19 and 20 June) before taking on Australia (24 June), Argentina (25 June) and Canada (27 June) before heading back to Latvia for the start of the championship.

Brazil have been drawn in Group A of the Preliminary Round and will take on Poland, Russia and Tunisia.

The 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship takes place in the cities of Valmiera, Liepaja and Riga from 30 June until 10 July.

Brazil U19 Men's squad: Arthur Casimiro (Paulistano), Raúl Togni Neto (Minas Tenis Clube), David Rossetto de Oliveira (Pinheiros), Irigoyen Bruno (Minas Tenis Clube), Felicio Cristiano (Minas Tenis Clube), Cunha Durval (Palmeiras), Erik Rodriguez Camilo (Paulistano), André Felipe Vezaro (Blinn College, USA), Felipe Taddei (Franca), Leonardo Meindl (Franca), Mariano Lucas (Franca), Gabriel Aguirre (Palmeiras), Lucas Nogueira (Estudiantes de La Plata, Spain).

FIBA