MIES (Switzerland) - It is now time to meet the six teams in this FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 Greece with the dream of becoming Olympic champions this summer.

Here is the number 19 team in the FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike, Dominican Republic. The Americas side will be competing in an OQT for the third time and hoping to reach the Olympics for the first time.

How they qualified

Dominican Republic downed Philippines in front of a record crowd of 38,115 fans

The Dominican Republic were full of confidence at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 appearing in FIBA's flagship event for the third straight time and fourth overall.

They started their Group A action in Manila in style by looking past a FIBA World Cup attendance record-setting crowd of 38,115 fans to knock off hosts Philippines 87-81. The Dominican Republic then surprised Italy 87-82 and finished the First Round in undefeated fashion with a 75-68 win over Angola.

The Dominicans could not keep up the momentum in the Second Round as they lost to FIBA Americas rivals Puerto Rico 102-97 in a great shoot-out between Tremont Waters (37 points) and Karl-Anthony Towns (39) - the latter who was playing for his country for the first time since 2013.  Dominican Republic would bow out of the competition as they lost 112-79 against Serbia.  

The Dominican Republic eventually finished in 14th place at the World Cup. That qualified them for the OQTs as one of the best 16 remaining teams that did not advance directly to the Summer Olympics.

Record at the Olympics

Dominican Republic did not have Karl-Anthony Towns in the 2020 OQT

Appearances: 0
Medals: 0

Recent OQT history*

* Since 2008

Dominicans were disappointed by missing the 2012 Olympics by one game

The Dominican Republic have twice participated in an OQT. The FIBA Americas nation was just one victory from making their Olympic debut in 2012. They beat North Macedonia in the Quarter-Finals in Venezuela and then lost to Lithuania 109-83 in the Semi-Finals. The Dominicans had one more chance but lost to Nigeria 88-73 in the Third Place Game to decide the final team to head to London.

The Dominican Republic finished sixth at the FIBA AmeriCup 2015 to miss out on the OQT for 2016. In the 2020 OQT Belgrade, they lost to Serbia and beat the Philippines in the group stage. In the Knockout Phase, the Dominican Republic could not handle Italy, losing 79-59 in the Semi-Finals.

Last Olympics appearance

Jean Montero will be a Dominican Republic leader for many, many years

The Dominican Republic showed at last summer's FIBA World Cup that they can play at the global level. Now they must finally make it through an OQT to reach their first-ever Olympics.

The OQT Group Phase

Karl-Anthony Towns and the Dominicans will have learned from the loss to Serbia

Dominican Republic face a tough task as they try to get through the OQT Greece. Their nominally easiest game will probably be to start Group B with Egypt - though the Americas side struggled against African team Angola at last summer's FIBA World Cup. 

The second game will be against hosts Greece, who will have the great support of the Peace and Friendship Stadium crowd.

The two top teams from both Groups A and B advance to the Semi-Finals and the Dominicans would have to face one of Croatia, New Zealand, and Slovenia with another victory in the Final needed to reach the Paris Olympics.

Dominican Republic OQT games

vs Egypt (July 2)
vs Greece (July 3)

Players to watch

The leader undoubtedly will be Karl-Anthony Towns, who showed at the World Cup that he can carry a team. Towns is a force that can be used in so many ways on offense and it will be up to the coaching staff to come up with the best attack.

The good thing about Towns is that he is a willing passer and lets others help him. The Dominican Republic have other players who can carry their weight. Andres Feliz has shined in Europe in Spain as a guard who can take over games late. Jean Montero is maturing more and more even though he will only turn 21 during the OQT.

Andres Feliz

Lester Quinones is a dangerous shooter and slasher while Victor Liz and LJ Figueroa both can also score from the wings. Dominican Republic are not deep at the center position so that means Angel Delgado will be all the more important as less can be expected from 35-year-old veteran center Eloy Vargas..

Qualified Team Focus series

During coming weeks and months, we will continue to check out all teams ready to step out as part of our Qualified Team Focus series. You can already take a look at Slovenia and Greece here.

FIBA