in 1946, coached by wilfredo franco, tingo díaz, piro méndez and for a pre-olympic tournament, the capitanes emerged. a group of young athletes, mostly from arecibo, like: manuel gilberto (petaca) iguina, quicón iguina, abdiel de la rosa, alberto renta, joaquín balaguer, armando villamil, y pipe beníquez showed themselves to be a part of it and dominated the sport in puerto rico, finishing in second place.