Venezuela's Duro will lean on experienced players at World Cup

CARACAS (Venezuela) - Venezuela coach Fernando Duro is loading up on experience for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 after including nine players that suited up for the country at the previous edition in a 21-man squad.

Michael Carrera, Pedro Chourio, Nestor Colmenares, Windi Graterol, Heissler Guillent, Anthony Perez, Miguel Ruiz, Gregory Vargas and Jhornan Zamora were all in the Venezuela team that made it out of the First Round in China in 2019 and finished 14th out of 32 teams.

Guillent, Carrera and Colmenares were the leading scorers in that team while Ruiz was the top rebounder.

Carrera (11.6 points per game) and Zamora (10.9 ppg) were the leading scorers in the Americas Qualifiers.

Also in the squad is experienced point guard David Cubillan and the emerging star, Garly Sojo, who played in 11 of the team's 12 games in the Americas Qualifiers and had the third highest efficiency per game on the team at 10.6 behind Carrera (12.8) and Colmenares (12.3).

Colmenares, 35, has been one of the most competitive players in the Venezuela team for more than a decade. His engine ran hot in the Americas Qualifiers as Venezuela booked their spot in the World Cup.

How experienced is this team?

Cubillan, Colmenares, Guillent, Vargas, Ruiz and Graterol were all in the famous Venezuela team that edged Canada at the FIBA AmeriCup 2015 in Mexico City to qualify for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Venezuela then defeated Argentina to lift the 2015 AmeriCup title.

Venezuela are in Group F with Slovenia, Cape Verde and Georgia and will play their games in Okinawa, Japan.

Their first game is against Luka Doncic and Slovenia on Saturday, August 26.

FIBA