April del Rio
La Jornada newspaper
Wednesday, February 3, 2021, p. a10
If Mexico manages to regain its competitive basketball rights, the men’s team will be able to seek their ticket to the Olympic Games by playing against Germany and Russia, and crossing with Tunisia, Croatia and Brazil, in the qualifiers to stay. June 29 to July 4 in Split, Croatia. If successful, he will face the winner of another knockout round that includes the Dominican Republic, New Zealand, Serbia, Puerto Rico, Italy, Senegal and Nigeria.
If they win the ticket to Tokyo, the Mexican team will be evaluated in the Group B Olympic tournament, in which only Australia and Nigeria are present so far.
Sergio Salazar, representative of the Mexican Basketball Sports Association, recalled that the International Federation has an unknown Mexico, which is why it is suspended from all international competitions and that the steering committee appointed since March 2020 is working to restore its rights.
They are looking for a way to lift the penalty in Mexico, when that happens, the teams will be able to compete. We are working closely with the Mexican Olympic Committee and the National Commission for Physical Culture and Sports, González said, and recalled that it was not easy to reverse the suspension after the previous leader, Xóchitl Lagarda -who resigned Ademeba- did not respect the rules statutory of the international organization.
Salazar was confident that Mexico will come out in time for the Olympic qualifying round, which will feature a team made up mostly of young players with no international experience.
The draw held yesterday in Mies, Switzerland, headquarters of Fiba, showed that Argentina and Spain, finalists of the last World Cup in China 2019, will be in the same phase in the group stage of the Olympic Games.
The group is completed by locals Japan and possibly Lithuania, favorites of the Olympic qualifying tournament to be played in their capital, Kaunas, and in which their rivals will be South Korea, Venezuela, Poland, Slovenia and Angola.
France will be among the great favorites of the United States. Iran will also compete in this group, as will the winner of the qualifying tournament to be played in late June and early July in Victoria, Canada, in which Greece will participate, with the double best player in the NBA (2019 and 2020) ., Giannis Antetokounmpo and Canada.
The women’s tournament, in which Mexico cannot qualify, is defined in three groups: South Korea, Serbia, Canada, Spain, in A; Nigeria, Japan, France and the United States in B, and Australia, Puerto Rico, China and Belgium in C.