Titanes de Barranquilla turn their engines on for debut

BARRANQUILLA (Liga de las Américas 2019) — Colombian Champions Titanes de Barranquilla are getting ready for their international debut at the DIRECTV Liga Sudamericana 2019 and are looking forward to surprise everyone at Group A, which will start on January 18 at the Antonio Prado Júnior Gymnasium in São Paulo, Brazil. Joining them in the group are Atenas de Córdoba (Argentina), Malvín (Uruguay) and locals Paulistano.

The squad led by Tomás Díaz started to train on January 7, already counting on the reinforcements that were added to the roster that took home the title of the most recent edition of the Colombia circuit.

“We can say that the team is more balanced in each one of its lines. We’ll get the functioning and chemistry going throughout these days, but I’ve witnessed that the players that have arrived have the experience and knowledge of the game, so I think that it’ll be easy for them to get the philosophy as well,” said coach Díaz to Colombian newspaper El Heraldo.

The new faces are Elder Giménez, from Venezuela; Austin Freeman, from the USA; and locals Simón Granados, Michael Hiestroza and Hanner Mosquera. The former is one of Colombia’s most well-known players after his performance at the NCAA. They are joining the core formed by Soren Deluque, Eduardo “Pichi” Torres, Héctor Díaz, Luis Blandón, Jesús Medina and others.

For their international commitment, Titanes are facing a difficult challenge against rivals that are more experienced and that are currently in their regular season at their corresponding local leagues. However, hopes are high regarding the goal of moving on to the next phase.

“On an international level we’ll be facing teams with good track records. This is our first international appearance and we’ll seek the best option to qualify. We want to go on to the next round and stay in the competition. We’ve built a team that can compete. This is a very challenging tournament and Colombia hasn't had good representations before; let's hope that ours are very good,” said the coach in his declarations to the press.

The Barranquilla squad confirmed three friendly games against local teams before traveling to Brazil. The first is scheduled for Thursday, January 10 against Caciques de Valledupar; the second will be on Friday 11 against Selección Atlántico, and on Saturday they conclude against Selección Bolívar.

FIBA
PHOTO - Zona Cero