South Africa's basketball community

FIBA turns 78

By on June 18, 2010 in News

fibalogo18 June 2010 is the 78th Anniversary of the inception of FIBA.

From FIBA.com:

GENEVA (FIBA) – Today marks the 78th anniversary of FIBA’s foundation. When a group of visionary men under the leadership of FIBA’s first President Léon Bouffard from Switzerland (pictured) and first FIBA Secretary General Renato William Jones from Great Britain met on 18 June 1932 at a hotel in Geneva, basketball was still under the auspices of the International Handball Federation.

It was only after that meeting and with the support of the founding members from Argentina, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Romania and Switzerland that FIBA took over the responsibility for the promotion and organisation of basketball on a global level.

Only four years later, basketball became an Olympic Sport at the 1936 Games in Berlin. In 1950, FIBA organised the first World Championship for Men and in 1953 the women’s edition of this most important basketball event followed.

The rest is a success story that made basketball the most popular indoor sport with over 450 million people regularly practising the sport on all levels. The FIBA family that started with eight national federations now grew to 213 member federations from all continents.

FIBA President Bob Elphinston looks ahead to a brilliant future: “The health status of our sport is as good as ever. We look forward to two exciting World Championships this summer in Turkey and the Czech Republic with the world’s greatest talent.

“I would like to thank our membership that has worked so hard for the past 78 years to make basketball the global sport that it is today.”

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