istanbul - Day tWO - 4 september 2010 ‘the house of an electrifying fiba world fiba33 basketball’ start congress 2010 congress to FIBA heads for Photo action from the setting the stage for plot future of tailor-made home world championship the serious business “sensational” Page 4 Page 6 Page 8 new formet Page 12 Congress breaks records the 19th Fiba World Congress will break all records for the number of national federations attending. the number of national federations attend- ing the event has doubled compared to the World Congress held four years ago. Out of the 213 FIBA country members, 170 are repre- sented in istanbul. interest in basketball continues to grow world-wide with the result that federations are keen to share ideas on how best to manage that growth. the continued growth in the sport has also The perfect note: The 19th FIBA World Congress gets off to a rousing start last night with a memorable performance. Full story and pictures, Page 3. prompted a move to shift the World Congress from a four-year to a two-year cycle. the 19th edition of the important meeting begins today and runs until monday. each of Fiba’s 213 country members is entitled to one voting delegate. One additional delegate per country may also attend. Istanbul – the Congress is the supreme authority of Fiba and holds sovereign powers within its terms of reference. its main duties are: • To adopt and modify the General statutes. • To elect the new president of Fiba. • To elect the treasurer of Fiba, upon pro- crossroads posals by the secretary General. • To ratify the composition of the Central board and the nomination of the Vice-president. • To appoint members of the ethics Commission. • To grant the title of Honorary president or Honorary member. to the future • To examine and approve all reports, includ- ing the activity report of the Central board. Fiba president bob elphinston, whose successful four-year baumann (Fiba secretary General) and i had a shared vision • To ratify the decisions of the Central board tenure ends in a fitting way this week, expects the Fiba of where we wanted the organisation to go,” he recalled. related to suspension of members. World Championship currently under way in turkey to be the “We have come an awful long way since the last Con- best ever. gress, culminating in the World Championship and the World Despite a hectic schedule, the team behind “it’s a triumphant conclusion to four action-packed years Congress. We anticipate that the turkey World Championship the World Congress have allowed for del- and the pace of events shows no signs of letting up,” said will be the best ever, and the Women’s World Championship egates’ love of the game. the event has been elphinston. in the Czech republic will be at a higher level. scheduled to enable delegates to take in “so much has happened in what has been an incredible “We have 170 plus countries for the World Congress, a games from the eighth Final round of the Fiba period of growth and change. i arrived in the job with my huge increase. World Championship. own agenda but what was more important was that patrick Continued on page 2 Continued from page 1 Istanbul – crossroads to the future “the 2014 championship in spain will see a dramatic increase in the commercial value of the event. “these are the things we have been working towards in the last four years.” elphinston pointed to a range of achievements by Fiba in the past four years, including the provision of new tools and support systems to the federations, improved governance and a campaign to raise the profi le of the game. “We wanted to raise the level of public recognition, to make it more attractive commercially and to increase the reach of tV,” he said. “We wanted to increase the number of young people playing the game and to that end we have seen the launch of the under 17 tournament, which has been incredibly successful for boys and girls. We launched the Fiba33 form of the game designed to stimulate the interest of young people wanting to play basketball anywhere in the world.” in line with a strategy to increase participation by women and girls in the game, a special seminar designed to generate new thinking on the subject will be held at the time of the Women’s World Championship in the Czech republic in late september – early October. “We want new interest and new ideas in this area,” said elphinston. “We have the structure of the world game just about right now.” He said that for him one of the landmarks of his term in offi ce was getting the new Fiba headquarters project off the ground. 2010 FIBA WORLD CONGRESS Opening “this was the realisation of an idea that had been in place for many years: our own permanent Fiba headquarters. We ran the architectural competition and the result is something really Turkey takes tournament special and it’s now moving ahead well.” He said that not all of his objectives had been realised. “We have had an initiative to create a world clubs championship to the highest level but so far that has not been realised. We still continue to pursue this and i believe we will achieve it in time,” he said. looking ahead, elphinston said that the game had enjoyed turkey has taken the challenge of lifting the Fiba World the principal speakers were welcomed by tbF presi- powerful growth and the best was still to come. Championship to the next level, said Fiba president dent turgay Demirel. “i hope you will enjoy the basket- “the profi le of basketball has never been so high,” he said. bob elphinston at the offi cial opening of the 19th World ball, enjoy the World Congress and enjoy istanbul.” “What pleases us is that senior members of the iOC and the world Congress last night. the lavish opening ceremony was held at the sports family generally have nothing but praise for the game. “i say ‘thankyou’ for advancing our great sport,” stunning Çıragan palace, now a fi ve-star hotel on the “We still have a lot of work to do, like growth and develop- said elphinston, speaking at a packed gala dinner at the european shore of the bosphorus and originally an ment in asia, which is a third of the world’s population, but we Çiragan palace Hotel. Ottoman palace. are making progress.” the extraordinary setting of the venue was just the the palace has enjoyed a colourful history since it He added: “it’s been a fantastic four years for me personally latest in a string of successes for the tournament and was built in the mid-19th Century. and i am also really excited about the next four years and what it World Congress, said elphinston. built by sultan abdülâziz, it was designed by the will bring to basketball. Our next probable president comes from “We have more than 170 national Federations, which noted armenian palace architect nigogayos balyan one of the best national federations in the world (yvan mainini is an absolute record attendance. i say to our hosts that and constructed between 1863 and 1867. from France) so the job is in excellent hands because the leader- they have done a wonderful job.” the inner walls and the roof were made of wood, ship will be outstanding. last night’s evening was another element in a the outer walls of colourful marble. the palace is con- “We have the structure of the world game just about right “magnifi cent three weeks” organised by the turkish nected by a fi ne marble bridge to the yıldız palace on now, and we will grow through new forms of the game as well as basketball Federation (tbF). the hill behind. better support for existing forms.” “the tbF has provided the greatest party since the a number of Ottoman rulers lived and died in the elphinston will continue his work with Fiba, having been fi rst basketball was bounced back in 1891.” palace, which was used as a parliament building in the elected president of the Oceania zone earlier this year, a post he elphinston singled out the Children of the World early 20th Century. held previously between 2002 and 2006. event as a feature that has added a special dimension Disaster struck in January, 1910, when a great fi re He congratulated the turkish basketball Federation (tbF) for to the World Championship. destroyed the palace, leaving only the outer walls its work in organising the current World Championship and the “We have 13 and 14-year olds from more than 100 intact. Called “seref stadı”, the place served for many World Congress. countries and speaking 77 different languages, living years as a football stadium for the club besiktas J.K. “the construction programme has gone very well. the national together and learning better how to play basketball. it’s in 1989, the ruin was restored and a modern hotel government has been remarkably proactive. the tbF is a very a remarkable project and an experience they will never complex added to it. However, the work was widely strong organisation and we have worked together very well. forget for the rest of their lives.” criticised for its failure to respect turkish culture and “it’s had more promotion and publicity than any previous yunus akgul, General Director for youth and sport architectural history. With its neon pink décor and event and almost 200 countries will get tV coverage with an for the turkish Government, said that Fiba was one of shops, it was dismissed as a shopping mall.