MIES: China’s Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 got its employees workshops on how to conduct the basketball event as it prepares to host FIBA’s flagship competition.
The 5-day workshops which ranged from Monday to Thursday saw the delegation pay its first-ever visit to the House of Basketball, FIBA’s Headquarters on the outskirts of Geneva, focused its agenda on the general organisation of the 32-team event that will take place from August 31-September 15, 2019.
During the course of the workshops, 22 representatives from the eight host cities – Beijing, Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Wuhan, under the leadership of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) exchanged ideas with FIBA staff about the following:
- Promotional activities that will be implemented at local, provincial, national and international levels for the World Cup.
- The brand identity of the FIBA Basketball World Cup and the competition schedule were also discussed at length.
- Positive economic impact of organising and hosting a sporting event of this magnitude.
- The need to develop legacy programmes that will be enacted following the conclusion of the tournament, were covered during the workshop.
The meeting also confirmed four further meetings – in Wuhan, Guangzhou, Foshan and Nanjing -in 2017. The LOC delegation took the time to visit the Naismith Arena – FIBA’s exhibition space in the House of Basketball – and FIBA President Horacio Muratore hosted them at an official dinner.
Speaking about the delegation’s visit, Burton Shipley, FIBA Central Board Member and Chairman of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Coordination Committee, said: “We wish to thank the LOC of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 for coming to the House of Basketball this week. We have had some very productive and conclusive conversations with them and our collaboration with them keeps going from strength to strength.”
As a part of their visit, the delegation moved to the French city in Lyon on Friday, where it was welcomed by the country’s national basketball federation (FFBB), which shared its experience of hosting and organising FIBA EuroBasket 2015. The Chinese LOC’s visit will also include taking in a game of local team ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne in France’s top flight league on Saturday evening.
The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 will see its first promotional event taking place on 4 December, a day that marks 1,000 days to go to the start of the competition.