Trophy Tour fuels World Cup excitement in Dominican Republic

SANTO DOMINGO (Dominican Republic) - The Trophy Tour presented by J9 caused quite a stir after its arrival in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, on July 9.

The Quisqueya are playing at the FIBA Basketball World Cup for the third consecutive time and dreaming of lifting the Naismith Trophy, which was taken to famous locations on the island and put on television.

FEDOMBAL president Rafael Uribe (second from left) on the set of LA HORA DEL DEPORTE

The trophy was immediately transported to CDN Deportes to accompany Dominican Republic Basketball Federation (FEDOMBAL) president Rafael Uribe on the program "LA HORA DEL DEPORTE."

Next was a visit to the Ministry of Sports, where the Minister of Sports and the President of the Dominican Republic Olympic Committee got an opportunity to observe the trophy.

The Naismith Trophy at the Dominican Basketball Federation

The iconic locations in the Santo Domingo where the trophy was photographed included Catedral Primera de America, Puerta Del Conde and Faro a Colon Santo Domingo Este.

The Catedral Primada de America (America's First Cathedral), had its first stone set in 1514 by Diego Columbus, the son of Christopher Columbus. The ashes of both are believed to have once rested in the chapel's crypt.

Catedral Primera de America

The construction of the cathedral only began, however, after the arrival of the first bishop, Alejandro Geraldini, in 1521.

From then until 1540, numerous architects worked on the church and adjoining buildings, which is why the vault is Gothic, the arches Romanesque and the ornamentation Baroque.

La Puerta del Conde

La Puerta del Conde (The Count's Gate) was the main entrance to the fortified city of Santo Domingo. The name was given to honor Governor Captain-General Bernardino de Meneses Bracamonte y Zapata, 1st Count of Peñalva, who once saved the city from a siege in 1655 by English General Robert Venables and Admiral William Penn during the Third Anglo-Spanish War

The gate is part of a structure called El Baluarte del Conde (The Count's Bulwark), a fort in Ciudad Colonial, the colonial area of Santo Domingo.

The fort was part of a larger system of fortifications that ran along a defensive wall which surrounded Ciudad Colonial. The Altar of the Fatherland and Independence Park are also located there.

Faro a Colon Santo Domingo Este

Columbus Lighthouse, a mausoleum monument to Christopher Columbus in Santo Domingo Este, projects beams of light forming a cross. The beams are so powerful that the cross can be seen from neighboring Puerto Rico.

The trophy's arrival was made all the most special because it connected the past with the present in Dominican Republic basketball.

Members of the team that played at the World Cup in 1978 went to the Palacio De Los Deportes Virgil Travieso Soto to view the trophy and to take a photo with it.

Vinicio Muńoz, Faisal Abreu Hasbun, Ivan Mieses and Eduardo Gomez

Ivan Mieses led that Dominican team in scoring at 18.1 points per game while Munoz was third at 11.6 ppg.

David Diaz, a coach, and Junior Paez, administrative director at FEDOMBAL

FEDOMBAL's Victor Rodriguez and Junior Paez

FIBA