Americas National Federations together in Assembly focused on FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers, FIBA AmeriCup 2017 and development of the region

SAN JUAN (Americas) - The Americas Region of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) assembled 33 of its national federations in the continent for an Ordinary Assembly held in the Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Saturday, March 25th.

The Zone Executive and Zone Board of the Americas met the day prior on the 24th, while the Sub-Zone CONCENCABA (Central American and the Caribbean) and CONSUBASQUET (former ABASU for South America) Executives met on the 23rd with a wide range of topics on the agenda.

FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Pre-Qualifiers
The Zone Executive voted and approved the cancellation of the Pre-Qualifier tournament that was set to be played in July in Bolivia. In turn, the 6th and 7th place teams from both Centrobasket and South American Championships 2016 (Bahamas, Cuba, Chile and Paraguay) will complete the 16-team field for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Americas Qualifiers set to tip-off in November 2017.

FIBA AmeriCup 2017
The Zone Executive received updates on the status of the FIBA AmeriCup 2017 and formal proposals from various national federation with intent to host the events were presented to its members. Final decision on the host(s) of the FIBA AmeriCup are set to be taken by the Zone Executive in the following weeks, with the regional office having committed to celebrate the tournament’s Official Draw within 15 days after the announcement has been made public.

FIBA U16 Americas Championships 2017
Both youth competitions in the calendar year 2017 for the region will be played in Argentina. The Men’s tournament will be played in Formosa on June 14-18, while the Women’s tournament will be played in Buenos Aires on June 7-11.

CONSUBASQUET
The South American Sub-Zone Executive confirmed that ABASU will now go back to its original name CONSUBASQUET (Confederacion Sudamericana de Basquetbol). The Sub-Zone, now chaired by President Gerasime Bozikis, with Secretary General and FIBA Central Board Member Marcelo Bedoya was founded under the name CONSUBASQUET in 1922.

FIBA AmeriCup 2021 Pre-Qualifiers naming
It was approved by the Americas Executive, Zone Board and Assembly that specific names for the geographical FIBA Americas 2021 Pre-Qualifiers be defined as the FIBA AmeriCup 2021 Caribbean Pre-Qualifiers, the FIBA AmeriCup 2021 Central American Pre-Qualifiers and the FIBA AmeriCup 2021 South American Pre-Qualifiers.

The Americas Executive, Zone Board and Assembly were attended by FIBA President Horacio Muratore, FIBA Americas President Usie Richards, FIBA Americas Executive Director Alberto Garcia, FIBA Central Board Member and FIBA Americas Vice President Michele O’Keefe, FIBA Americas Treasurer and FIBA Central Board Member Jim Tooley, CONSUBASQUET President and FIBA Americas Vice President Gerasime Bozikis, CONSUBASQUET Secretary General and FIBA Central Board Member Marcelo Bedoya, Chairman of FIBA Competitions Comission and FIBA Americas Executive Committee Member at Large Eduardo Bazzi, CONCENCABA President Ruperto Herrera, CBC President Glyne Clark, COCABA President Yamil Bukele and FIBA Americas Secretary General Emeritus Jenaro “Tuto” Marchand, as well as representatives from 33 out its 43 national federations in the Americas.

FIBA's National Federation & Sport Director Zoran Radovic gave a presentation the FIBA National Federation Development and Olympic Solidarity Program.

“We have come together once again in what have been productive meetings for the direction of our region looking forward to the challenges ahead. In less than two months, the road to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 will officially begin with Draw for its Qualifiers and the Americas region is focused on successfully welcoming this new era for basketball around the world. Steps have been taken this weekend to empower our national federations on their way to the near future of our sport and having 33 of them here present at the Assembly confirms their commitment. Their presence and engagement this weekend shows we are on the same page of putting all our hard work towards the growth of basketball throughout our continent.”, said FIBA Americas President Usie Richards.

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About FIBA
FIBA (fiba.com) - the world governing body for basketball - is an independent association formed by 213 National Basketball Federations throughout the world. It is recognised as the sole competent authority in basketball by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

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