FIBA – Turkey ready to host the 16th edition of the World Championship
Every four years representatives from the five continents collide in a battle for
FIBA's (International Basketball Federation) gold medal, an ongoing tradition since 1950. The last championship was held in Japan, where Spain categorically defeated Greece 70 points to 47 to win the first Naismith Trophy in their history. Now Turkey will have the opportunity to host the 2010 FIBA World Championship and witness how a new chapter in the history of basketball is written in four of its cities.
The 16th edition will have four groups made up of six national teams each, where the first four from every group will advance to the next round, to then continue with the elimination rounds that are decided in one playoff game. From August 18th through September 12th the Turks will embrace the passion of all the basketball fans of the world with 80 international games to delight themselves with, and will also experience the greatest sport competition that has ever been hosted in their country.
Five arenas will host this tournament, an event that Turkey has brought back to Europe after 12 years of absence, since it was held in Spain in 1986. This will be the fourth tournament organized in this continent. The Europeans lead the gold medals statistics with 9 out of the 15 that have been disputed, followed by America with 6. The rest of the world hasn't had the opportunity to experience the glory from the first place, and only reports one close attempt in 1954, when Philippines won the bronze medal in Rio de Janeiro after defeating France 66-60.
After 15 editions, 13 countries have made it to the podium, but only seven of them have tasted the sweet fruits of victory, an achievement that promises to be even tougher to obtain this year because of the high performance that each team is experiencing, as a result of more competition.
Cities and groups
Kayseri, Group A: Argentina, Serbia, Australia, Germany, Angola, Jordan.
The South Americans are the strongest team of this group, and are leaded by the players from the NBA: Oberto, Scola, Delfino, and Fernandez. They will try to improve the fourth place won in Japan.
Istanbul, Group B: United States, Slovenia, Brazil, Croatia, Iran, Tunisia.
The current Olympic gold medalist, United State, is one of the favorites of the tournament. In second place comes Brazil, the current champions of the continent.
Ankara, Group C: Greece, Turkey, Puerto Rico, Russia, China, Ivory Coast.
Last edition's runner up Greece, and current number 4 in the ranking, will come thirsty for revenge this year.
Izmir, Group D: Spain, France, Canada, Lithuania, New Zealand, Lebanon.
Spain is the current champion, and the country is living its golden era in sports, as they are the number one in soccer, Moto GP, Cycling, and ATP Tennis among others. Coach Pepu Hernandez is optimistic as they: "come with a lot of excitement in the game and now we are the world champions".
Curiosities
The famous vuvuzelas, the noise making plastic trumpet, which became known worldwide in the past FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa, have been banned by the FIBA for this upcoming championship. In this way their growing success has faced an obstacle as they tried to conquer another sport, because they are considered to attempt against the health of many fan's ears.
FIBA Turkey ready to host the 16th edition of the World Championship
By: andres@linkspacesa.com
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