Leones de Quilpue takes shape for the start of the DIRECTV Liga Sudamericana 2018

QUILPUE (DIRECTV Liga Sudamericana) - In less than a week, the DIRECTV Liga Sudamericana will tip-off and the runners-up of the Chilean National League, Leones de Quilpué, are ready to face Group A from October 2-4, in Franca, Brazil.

The Chilean club, which will face the teams of Franca, Instituto de Cordoba (Argentina) and Aguada (Uruguay), in that order, announced its final roster, commanded by the escort Evandro Arteaga, recurrent in the Chilean national team, in addition of the reinforcements, of the Dominican Elys Guzmán, the Panamanian Josimar Ayarza and the Uruguayan Salvador Zanotta.

In its intention to arrive in the best possible way to the international competition, the Leones hosted last week a tournament with the teams from Universidad de Concepción (CHI), Rivadabia de Mendoza (ARG) and Aguada (URU).

"That group was a little bit uneven for us, we lacked some pieces (they finished third with a 1-2 record), but the work helped us because our group in the tournament is very tough, it will be very competitive, I think will be one of the most closed of the competition," said the Head Coach of the Leones, Claudio Jorquera, who led the Leones to a record of 22-10 in the previous edition of the Chilean National League.

"We hope to have our best performance. We are training hard. Our three reinforcement players (Guzmán, Ayarza and Zanotta) are very good and they will strengthen us during the competition", added the technician.

The first two teams from Group A will advance to the Semifinal Phase to continue the search for the Horacio Muratore Cup.

The DIRECTV Liga Sudamericana champion will qualify to the DIRECTV Liga de las Américas 2019.

FIBA