Venezuela building up for Toronto and Mexico City

TORREJON DE ARDOZ (2015 FIBA Americas Championship) - Venezuela are looking to take more positives steps this summer after a couple of solid years in international basketball.

The country will play at the Pan American Games (21-25 July) in Toronto, Canada, and then compete at the FIBA Americas Championship in Mexico City (31 August-12 September), a tournament that has Olympic implications.

The sides that reach the Final in Mexico will clinch places at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games and the teams that end up third, fourth and fifth will gain berths in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT). 

Right now, Venezuela have a squad in Spain that is getting ready for the Pan Am Games.

They are training and having warm-up matches.

Twelve players traveled from Caracas and have been joined by John Cox, Dwight Lewis and center Gregory Echenique in Europe.

The FIBA Americas Championship is the more important of the two tournaments.

Venezuela want to use Toronto as a springboard to a successful summer.

"2015 brings important competitions so now we target the first commitment," Venezuela coach Nestor 'Che' Garcia said from Torrejon de Ardoz, Spain, where the Venezuelans are holding their preparations.

"We go to the Pan American Games with the intention of getting into the Semi-Finals because in the qualifying group, we will meet first-class teams (USA, Brazil and Puerto Rico).

"Overcoming the group would be very good for us, especially considering that Venezuela has never won a medal. So we are taking aim at the Semi-Finals, to have two chances for a medal."

The Venezuelan team has carried some momentum into this summer.

They won the 2014 South American Championship.

Winning the South American Championship has given great confidence to this group. - Garcia

"In our process, we [also] had a good participation in the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship, where we were very close to qualifying [to the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup]," Garcia said.

"This, plus winning the last tournament, helped us assimilate how to play at the international level."

Venezuela will make their first appearance at the Pan Am Games since 1991.

Garcia is keen to see this squad in action, although there will be even more players to arrive in Spain on 14 July that will not go to Canada, but instead to China for the Stankovic Cup where New Zealand, Mexico and China will be the opponents.

It remains to be seen what the make-up of Venezuela's squad for the FIBA Americas Championship will be.

"This year there is a much more extensive preparation as there is a group in Spain, already practicing for the [Pan American] Games of Toronto, and a second group that will arrive on July 14, also to Spain, to train looking forward to the Stankovic Cup in China," Garcia said.

A Venezuela squad will also have tournaments in Madrid, Serbia and Argentina.

When it's all said and done after the FIBA Americas Championship, Venezuela's basketball program will be better.

We will have had 80 days of preparation [after Mexico City 2015] with 30 men playing and being coached in different places. - Garcia 

"This has been very important for us, since we have received invitations from countries with world-class basketball," Garcia said.

"This will make us grow and will confirm that our concentrations, for two years in Spain, are paying off."

Garcia intends to go to the Pan American Games with the core of the South American Championship team, [and] "with a player that we think will help us in the process and has not participated in the national team."

The coach says that the players are working hard in training and creating a high-pressure environment that is making everyone better.

"This group of players has given its best in every tournament they have participated," he said.

"Despite some important absences, we have been at a high level.

"We feel we can achieve, but we must be realistic, knowing there are teams that have classified and have been protagonists for years.

"We respect them, but we know we can play them as equals.

"We'll see when the time comes, what we produce.

"We are fixing in our minds to do our best and we have a strong commitment to ourselves and to the whole country."

Go to fiba.com/Americas2015 for complete coverage of the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship.

FIBA