DOM - Mission accomplished at long last

SANTO DOMINGO (FIBA Basketball World Cup) - For many years, it seemed that the Dominican Republic were like a national team trudging through the desert with FIBA World Championships and Olympic Games like a mirage.

At qualifying tournament after qualifying tournament the past several years, the Dominicans won a lot of games and moved to within touching distance of a spot in the big basketball tournaments, only to come up just short.

The Dominican Republic are at long last going to be able to take part in one of the major events thanks to a terrific summer at the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship in Caracas, Venezuela, where they finished fourth.

For the first time since 1978 in the Philippines, the Dominicans are going to play at a FIBA Basketball World Cup.

"The Dominican people deserved to be in a World Cup," said the president of the country's basketball federation, Rafael Uribe.

"Many times, we were on the verge of doing so, but we could not do it.

"When working with effort, dedication and when you have people like as we do, you can do this and much more."

The Dominicans were the 'nearly men' before this summer.

In 2005 as the host nation of the FIBA Americas Championship, the Dominicans came in sixth - just one place out of the qualifying group for the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan.

Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, the USA and Panama instead went to the tournament in the Far East.

In 2009, four spots for the following year's FIBA World Championship in Turkey were up for grabs and the Dominicans came in fifth.

In 2011, the top two teams at the FIBA Americas Championship Mar del Plata qualified for the London Olympics, and the Dominicans came in third.

Then in the last game of the 2012 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic had a chance to advance to London but lost to Nigeria.

Under first-year head coach Orlando Antigua, who had served as John Calipari's assistant the previous two years on the national team, and thanks to the inspirational play of players like veterans Jack Martinez and Francisco Garcia in Caracas, the Dominicans assured their place in next years 24-team tournament in Spain.

FIBA