FIBA President Carl Men Ky Ching announced the launch of a new
invitational tournament, which includes some of the best basketball
teams in the world.
Organized by the International Basketball Federation, the Cup
will feature Olympic Gold Medalist Argentina, Asian Champions
China, European Champions Lithuania, Oceania Champions Australia,
African Champions Angola and the Americas 1st runner-up Puerto
Rico.
"The Beijing Capital Stadium will house the highest basketball
level ever played in the Chinese basketball history," stated Mr.
Ching at the press conference.
"I want to thank the Ministry of Sports, especially the Chinese
Basketball Association, and the Beijing City Government for their
full support and for hosting this Championship."
The event is named "Stankovic Continental Champions Cup" in
honor of Mr. Borislav Stankovic for his lifetime pursuit of
basketball. He has been FIBA Secretary General for over 26 years
and in his term of office, the distinction between amateurs and
professionals had been lifted allowing the world's best basketball
players to participate in Olympic Games and FIBA World
Championships.
"Basketball would not be what it is today without him", stated
FIBA Secretary General Mr. Patrick Baumann. "The game now belongs
to the top sports in the world, popular, spectacular and truly
global. We look forward to the action, which will commence on July
25th in the Olympic city of 2008 – just one year ahead of the 2006
FIBA World Championship, which will be hosted in Japan."
The hosting country of the event, the People's Republic of
China, has over 250 million basketball participants making it the
country with the highest number of participants in the world.
"It is still 3 years to go, but people in this wonderful country
can get a first taste, of what they can expect at the Olympic
Basketball tournament in 2008", said Mr. Borislav Stankovic.
"Global basketball excellence with some of the best teams around
the world will be at display."
(FIBA.com July 25, 2005)