Photo: FIBA Americas

Havana, October 16 (RHC)-- Cuba's men's basketball team will play the first qualifying window for the 2022 Americup in Chihuahua, Mexico, next November.

FIBA America announced that the first windows will be held in bubble format, so Group D has been announced for the Aztec locality, which will also include the teams of the United States, Puerto Rico and the host.

According to the schedule on the entity's website, the Cubans will face the Americans on November 28 and 29 and on those same dates the Puerto Ricans and the locals will face each other during the first of the segments in the group phase, from which the first three teams will advance.

The FIBA America communiqué indicates that Buenos Aires will host Group A (Venezuela, Panama, Paraguay and Argentina) and Group B (Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay) and Santo Domingo Group C (Bahamas, Canada, U.S. Virgin Islands and Dominican Republic).

The decision to hold it in this format is due to "ensure the health and safety of all participants and the most important criteria for choosing the hosts were health and travel guarantees and compliance with FIBA health protocols, including testing and controlled entry in a safe environment," it was reported.

The remaining windows of this stage are agreed for February, June and July 2022 to determine the places in each key after six games.

The 12 teams to continue in a second phase from August 2022 will compete for the seven tickets to the 2023 World Cup scheduled for Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan.