By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
FIBA confirmed Shanghai as a host city for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 and announced it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with global partner Beijing Enterprises Group (BEG) to set up a basketball academy as part of the event’s legacy.
Speaking at a press conference in Beijing’s Wukesong Stadium on Thursday, FIBA Executive Committee Member and FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Coordination Committee Chairman Burton Shipley provided a progress report on the preparations leading up to the next staging of FIBA’s flagship event in a little over three years’ time (31 August-15 September 2019).
He confirmed that, following the positive result of an evaluation visit, Shanghai is to replace Suzhou as one of the eight cities hosting the World Cup.
It was also announced that, in line with the partnership agreement struck between FIBA and BEG last December, the two parties signed an MOU to set about providing thousands of young and talented basketball players local access to world-class training facilities. This is of great importance to FIBA, which places a huge emphasis on putting in place and seeing through legacy plans for its events.
Shipley also revealed the establishment of FIBA China representative offices in Beijing, Nanjing and Guangzhou which are to oversee the smooth running of operations leading up to and during the first-ever edition of the event with 32 teams.
Additionally, Thursday’s event served to confirm that senior officials from the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), along with the Deputy Governors from the five host provinces and the mayors of all eight host cities would be part of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019. These representatives met with FIBA and CBA officials as part of a first technical meeting on Friday.
The Deputy Director of the Beijing Sports Bureau, CHEN Jie, and CBA’s Vice-President, LI Jinsheng, both reiterated their commitment in hosting a successful FIBA Basketball World Cup.