SANTIAGO - Basketball in Chile is going through a great moment in all its categories. For women's categories, the U15 national team — who were champions of the Torneo Sudamericano — were honored by the Chile Olympic Committee (COCH, for its Spanish acronym) at the Olympic Gala, where they were awarded with the 2018 Prize for Promise in Sports. The accolade acknowledged their efforts and triumphs in the tournament that took place from October 29 to November 3 in the city of Aysén.

Premio a las Promesas Deportivas - Selección femenina sub 15 Básquetbol.
¡Felicitaciones a todas por todo su esfuerzo! pic.twitter.com/ttdAGZfuMx

— Team Chile (@TeamChile_COCH) 13 de diciembre de 2018

“Many years have gone by before our sport has started to be acknowledged, and that motivates us to keep on working. I'm super excited,” said on Twitter Irán Arcos, President of the Chile Federation.

“These women are giving a tremendous example with their effort and dedication and they demonstrate the development that’s being achieved for basketball in Chile,” said the Minister of Sports, Pauline Kantor.

Moreover, FIBA presented this month their updated national team ranking, which measures the evolution of women’s and men’s junior and senior national teams. In the youth leagues, Chile and its players moved up three spots (8). Meanwhile, for their part, the U15 women's national team — led by their South American title — registered the best upward movement in the whole world, after moving up five positions, which places them in the eighth spot for the Americas.

For this new update, the senior men’s team was placed 79th, improving one position from its previous placement. As for the senior women’s team, there were no updates and it's still in the 32nd spot after their appearance at their category’s Sudamericano.

After their participation in the fifth window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers to China 2019, the Chilean senior men’s team adds a 2-victory, 8-defeat record. Its qualification is now quite complicated, after defeating the Virgin Islands (81-63) and losing against the Dominican Republic (74-65) as locals at the Antonio Azurmendi Coliseum in the city of Valdivia. In February, they’ll play as visitors against the Caribbean team, as well as against Canada, to conclude their participation in the World Cup Qualifiers.

At the youth level, the Chileans improved their record. Men’s basketball left the 35th worldwide spot and our now placed 32nd. Meanwhile, women’s basketball achieved a significant improvement, going up to the 31st spot — improving five positions from their former placement (36th).

In relation to women’s categories, the International Brisa Youth Cup 2018 was disputed in December in Santiago de Chile, at the host club’s venue, where the U15 national team participated — the same team that won the Sudamericano, led by Warren Espinosa — as well as the U16 national team that's preparing for the U17 Sudamericano. This tournament serves as practice to face rivals in future competitions that are of greater physical stature.

As for youth men’s basketball, the annual Talento de Chile Cup was celebrated in San Felipe. This tournament invites national teams of different regions — from the south, center and north of the nation — and different national teams.

There, 14 players are selected to represent the Andean country. The tournament, which also featured U13 national team players, is a platform to start observing the players that in a future could be a part of national teams of a greater level, and that could be witnessed in the senior national team.

“We've had in this tournament players that today, at 18, 19 and 20 years of age are participating in foreign leagues. Such is the case of Felipe Haase, in a university in South Carolina; Sebastián Herrera, in the German national league of his category; Ignacio Arroyo, in Madrid’s Estudiantes; and Eric Rubio, in Argentina,” stated Miguel Eduardo Blanco, Chief of Communications in FebaChile.

With this encouraging state of affairs, Chilean basketball continues to place all bets on their youth, so that they become the future of the senior national team.

FIBA