(ATR) Hamane Niang of Mali is elected FIBA president at the basketball federation’s congress on Thursday in Beijing.
The former African basketball president was the only candidate for the position. FIBA operates a rotation system for the presidency, meaning an African president must serve from 2019-2023.
Delegates from 156 National Federations attending the XXI FIBA Congress unanimously elected both Niang and the Central Board members for the next four years.
"I sincerely thank all the National Federations for the trust they have placed in me today. It is with humility that I accept this responsibility placed upon me," Niang said in a statement.
"I promise to dedicate myself fully to FIBA during my tenure and to serve the interests of our beloved sport across all corners of the world. We are the governing body of basketball and we must continue to play the leading role in developing our sport. Together, we can become the most popular sports community in the world."
Niang was head of FIBA Africa from 2014 to 2019 and a member of the international federation’s Board during the same period.
The 67-year-old, who has worked at the Mali Bank of Development and in the government’s finance ministry, was president of the Mali Basketball federation from 1999 to 2007 before his appointment as sports and culture minister from 2007 to 2011. Prior to his election as Africa’s basketball chief, he was president of the FIBA Africa Council for Finances from 2001 to 2014.
Ingo Weiss from Germany was re-elected for his second term as FIBA Treasurer.
The 13 newly elected members of the Central Board, along with Niang, Weiss, FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis as well as the presidents of FIBA's five regions will meet for the first time on Sept. 14 in Beijing.
The panel needs to appoint to the Central Board a representative of the National Basketball Association (NBA) of the USA and a representative of the players.
In addition, the board may bring in additional members with full voting rights for the vision, skill and special expertise that they will bring.
The FIBA Congress concludes on Friday evening with the delegates attending the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Opening Ceremony, being held at The Water Cube, the former Beijing 2008 Olympic Games venue.
FIBA's flagship event, featuring a record 32 national teams, will be played in eight Chinese cities from Aug. 31 to Sept. 15.
Seven teams will qualify for Tokyo 2020 from the tournament. The 16 next best classified teams at the World Cup will get the chance to earn one of the last four spots through Olympic qualifying tournaments to be held in early July just before the Summer Games begin. Japan has already qualified as the host country.
Written by Gerard Farek
For general comments or questions,click here.
Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
