By Giorgos Orfanakis/ info@eurohoops.net
The battle between China and Philippines was hard but eventually China prevailed and will host the Basketball World Cup in 2019.
The decision was taken by FIBA’s Central Board after both candidates submitted their bids and each gave presentations during the Host Announcement Ceremony. The Central Board vote saw 14 in favour of China’s bid, with seven backing that of Philippines who had as ambassador, the boxer Manny Pacquiao.
This is the first time that China will host a World Cup, which will be held in eight cities: Beijing, Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan and Dongguan.
Yao Ming, the Ambassador for the China 2019 bid, said: “It’s such an exciting moment to bring the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup to China and I’m sure that millions of fans are sharing this joy with us. I know what it’s like to play a top level basketball tournament in front of home fans because I played at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Having the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup will inspire a lot of people and particularly more young athletes to participate in basketball.”
The President of FIBA, Horacio Muratore said: “This was a very difficult decision because we had two national federations who did excellent work. However, there can only be one host country for our event in 2019 and it will be China. We look forward to the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup, which will be the first of a new era with 140 teams competing during a 15-month qualification period to be among the 32 playing in China.”