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Doha, June 13 (QNA) – International Basketball Federation (FIBA) praised Qatar’s sporting facilities and infrastructure, which makes the state capable of presenting a distinguished and exceptional edition of the international tournament, which will be held in Qatar for the first time in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, noting Doha’s success in hosting various international tournaments in the past few years, on top of which was the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
This came during the press conference held in Doha on the sidelines of FIBA’s delegation inspection visit to stand on Qatar’s preparations to organize the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027.
The press conference was attended by President of FIBA Hamane Niang, President of Qatar Basketball Federation Mohammed Saad Al Mughaiseeb, Secretary-General of FIBA Andreas Zagklis, and Director of Strategy and Projects Department at Qatar Olympic Committee Fahad Ebrahim Juma.
President of FIBA Hamane Niang expressed his confidence in Qatar’s success in hosting the FIBA Basketball World Cup four years from now, especially since the sporting facilities and infrastructure are already present with global standards and high operational quality.
He considered that these ingredients would help Qatar present a distinguished and exceptional edition of the international tournament.
During the press conference, Niang said that Qatar had successful and distinguished experiences in hosting several international tournaments during the past few years, including the Handball World Championship, the World Athletics Championships, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, the World Judo Championships, and other tournaments that were one of the factors that made the FIBA favor the Qatari bid.
He added that among the favoring factors for the Qatari bid was being a new region and a different encouraging environment to spread basketball, as well as the excellent and distinguished bid presented by the Qatar Basketball Federation, which included the development of all aspects of the game, especially regarding women’s basketball and the age groups.
Niang indicated that despite hosting the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Japan and Indonesia, the FIBA is excited and looking forward to seeing the reception of the Qatari people for the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup in a journey that extends over four years.
He expressed his hope that Qatar will send a message to the world indicating that basketball is a team sport and spread the values of that sport to youths, young adults, and future generations.
The President of FIBA thanked the State of Qatar and the officials for their support for the Qatari bid presented by the Qatar Basketball Federation and for their warm welcome and hospitality for the FIBA delegation, which received a warm welcome from high-ranking officials in the state.
In turn, President of Qatar Basketball Federation Mohammed Saad Al Mughaiseeb revealed that the high-level visit of the FIBA delegation, where several coordination meetings were held and included Qatar’s preparations to host an exceptional and unprecedented edition of the FIBA Basketball World Cup in the region, especially since it will be the first time to be held in the MENA region.
During the press conference, Al Mughaiseeb said there are talks with the FIBA so that the State of Qatar would organize more than one event during the coming four years using the ambassadors accredited to the FIBA within the framework of promoting the tournament.
He added that the courts that would host the FIBA Basketball World Cup were allocated already, including the 14,000 seats Lusail Multipurpose Hall, the 7,000 seats Duhail Sports Hall, the 7,000 seats Ali bin Ali sports hall, and Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence hall.
He added that the training halls assigned for the teams participating in the tournament, initially, are the halls attached to the stadiums in the sports clubs, as well as the halls in which the Qatar Federation competitions are currently held, noting that there is a plan to add an additional stadium that will be determined later.
He announced that starting this year, the Qatar Basketball Federation would organize internal activities to promote the host of FIBA Basketball World Cup, and would use the Basketball Triathlon competitions and their activities in the promotion campaign, in addition to using women’s activities in promoting the FIBA Basketball World Cup, especially since the women’s participation in such event is really important.
Al Mughaiseeb said that what distinguishes FIBA Basketball World Cup Qatar is the modern world-class sporting facilities and infrastructure, in addition to the ease of mobility between the courts, the facilities, and the accommodation, making it a special and comfortable tournament for all participants, and providing an opportunity for those who wish to attend most or all the games.
He pointed out that the FIBA praised the tournament’s facilities and infrastructure, especially their compactness.
For his part, Director of Strategy and Projects Department at the Qatar Olympic Committee Fahad Juma confirmed that the public plan is an essential part of the master plan to host major tournaments in the State of Qatar.
Given the unprecedented public success during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Qatar now has an opportunity to invest this success and cooperate with Qatar Tourism and other local institutions in attracting fans from both the region and abroad, to make the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 in Qatar another success, especially that basketball is the world’s second most popular sport after football, he added.
During the conference, Juma said that holding the FIBA Basketball World Cup in the Middle East for the first time gives the tournament a new and different character. From now until 2027, a lot of major technological developments will be there in relation to hosting and broadcasting the tournament, which will serve as an important element to attract fans, along with basketball star players from the American League and others to take part in the tournament, he said.
He explained that the State of Qatar is currently in the first phase of the master plan for fans, in which the country will cooperate with FIBA to market and promote the Basketball World Championship, noting that the Basketball World Cup is not just a three-week tournament, but rather it is a tournament that has already started since the moment Qatar won the honor and bid to host this great tournament, all the way until the tournament concludes.
Director of Strategy and Projects Department at the Qatar Olympic Committee considered that whenever the State of Qatar applies to host any international tournament, it prioritizes the legacy aspect of the event, being an essential and pivotal part of its hosting bid, pointing out that the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 in Qatar’s most important legacy will be developing the human capital and training basketball players, as well as advancing basketball’s status in the country, promoting the sport in the Middle East, giving the region’s young players the opportunity to attend the FIBA Basketball World Cup, in addition to all the facilities this tournament would leave behind for future tournaments and events.
Juma stressed that the State of Qatar aims to present an exceptional and sustainable version of the FIBA Basketball World Cup which conforms with all international sustainability standards and serves as a legacy for all upcoming world tournaments, pointing out that the hosting will focus on sustainability, as was the case with the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, in an effort that all future tournaments follow suit.
In turn, International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Secretary General Andreas Zagklis said that the objective of the federation’s visit is to inspect Qatar’s preparations to host the global event as well as to discuss some plans for the promotion and marketing of the tournament.
During the press conference, Zagklis said that the delegation which consists of a number of FIBA technical experts and Board of Directors, visited the sport facilities and venues to host the event, indicating that the venues seem ready to host the event already, only that FIBA still needs to carry out rehearsals for the venues by having players and fans on the ground.
He emphasized that the State of Qatar is no stranger to FIBA, with the two federations have cooperated together for a long time, as Qatar previously hosted the FIBA 3×3 World Cup 2022 Qualifier Asia. Zagklis also noted that the two federations agreed on the events and programs to accompany the Basketball World Cup, in addition to holding women’s basketball activities to promote the world cup. Those events will be announced at a later time, he said.
The FIBA Secretary General said that this is his second visit to Doha, in which he already noticed a great change in terms of sport facilities, hoping to visit Doha again in order to get to know more about the State of Qatar as well as learning more about Arab culture.
(QNA)
