The Brazilian team won the first of four tickets to Paris 2024 that are now distributed by various pre-Olympics in Riga, Valencia, Piraeus and San Juan de Puerto Rico. The South American team achieved this after comfortably defeating the host team, Latvia, in the final of the first round (69-94).
Brazil’s qualification is an individual milestone for Marcelinho Huertas, who at 41 will become the second-oldest player to participate in an Olympic basketball event, surpassed only by Luis Scola. The Argentine power forward achieved this at 41 years and 99 days. Huertas, for his part, will be 41 years and 61 days on opening day.
Brazil didn’t give Latvia any chance in this afternoon’s final. The team led by Aleksandar Petrovic quickly opened a big gap thanks to its rare triple victory in the first quarter (8/8), which allowed to close the first ten minutes with a 23 point difference (11-34 ).
Huertas contributed to his team’s victory with 12 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists and 14 PIR in 26 minutes. The best in Brazil were Leo Meindl (20 points), Georginho de Paula (14) and Bruno Caboclo (21). They are their third Olympic Games after London’2012 and Rio’2016.
Brazil topped their group in the first stage thanks to the basketball average, when they defeated Montenegro 81-72 and lost to Cameroon 77-74. They then beat the Philippines 71-60 in the semifinals.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Jason Root, a professional writer working with Today Times Live, the premier news website. I specialize in sports writing, covering the biggest stories in the world of athletics. With an eye for detail and a passion for storytelling, I provide engaging and informative articles that capture the key elements of any event or issue. My work has been featured on numerous respected websites and publications around the world.
