10 May 2017
SAN JUAN (FIBA 3x3 World Cup 2017) – Gilberto Clavell, Jonathan Garcia, Luis ‘Pela Coco’ Hernandez and Wil Martinez will represent Puerto Rico at the FIBA 3x3 World Cup 2017 in Nantes, France on June 17-21.
While Puerto Rico has only featured once at the World Cup before (16th in 2014), Puerto Rican teams have found success in the FIBA 3x3 professional circuit, the FIBA 3x3 World Tour.
Jonathan Garcia starred for Team San Juan, who were the inaugural winners of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour in 2012.
After a two-year hiatus from 2014 to 2015, Garcia came back to the World Tour in 2016 to pay tribute to former team-mate, the late Andy Ortiz and won the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Mexico City Masters for Team Caguas with Hernandez and Martinez.
Clavell replaced Martinez at the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Final in Abu Dhabi where the team finished 3rd overall.
Hernandez is the number one 3x3 player in Puerto Rico and ranks 35th in the World while Garcia is 51st, Martinez 112th and Clavell 274th.
All are also recognized basketball players on the island. Hernandez, Martinez and Clavell have all been included in the 25-player squad to represent Puerto Rico at the FIBA AmeriCup 2017.
At the FIBA 3x3 World Cup, Puerto Rico will feature in a very competitive Pool A with two-time World Champions Serbia, 2015 European Games winners Russia, Andorra and Egypt.
FIBA