BRA - Olympic hopefuls Brazil name preliminary squad

RIO DE JANEIRO (FIBA Americas Championship) – Brazil coach Ruben Magnano has named a 20-man preliminary squad for the FIBA Americas Championship.

In his second year in charge of Brazil, Magnano will be looking to build on last year when his team reached the knockout stages of the FIBA World Championship in Turkey.

The Brazilians then lost in a 93-89 thriller against Argentina.

Denver Nuggets center Nene, let go from the Brazil squad shortly before the start of last year’s World Championship because of fitness issues, is among those included in the preliminary group.

The two sides that reach the Final of the FIBA Americas Championship in Mar del Plata in September will qualify for the London Olympics and the teams that come in third, fourth and fifth will take part in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

As part of their preparations, Brazil will compete in a warm-up tournament in Venezuela and also take part in the Tutto Marchand Cup.

"Our idea is to use all of the players up to then," said Magnano, who led Argentina to gold at the 2004 Olympics.

"We are going to work a lot to achieve our aim, which is to participate in the Olympic Games in London next year."

Brazil preliminary squad (profile page):

Marcelo Huertas, Nezino dos Santos, Raul Togni Neto, Larry James Taylor, Jr, Leandro Barbosa, Vitor Alves Benite, Marcelo Machado, Alex Garcia, Arthur Luiz Belchor Silva, Diego Pinheiro da Silva, Marcus Vinicius, Augusto Cesar Lima, Douglas Angelo Nunes, Guilherme Giovannoni, Anderson Varejão, Caio Aparecido da Silveira Torres, Paulo Prestes, Rafael Hettsheimeir, Nene Hilário and Tiago Splitter.

FIBA