FIBA Secretary General sets out work required for Japan to overturn suspension

TOKYO - FIBA Secretary General and International Olympic Committee (IOC) Membee Patrick Baumann used a three-day visit to Tokyo to discuss how the Japanese Basketball Association (JBA) can respond positively to its recent suspension by FIBA.

Mr Baumann, accompanied by FIBA Executive Committee member Mr Ingo Weiss, met with a number of influential figures (players, men and women's clubs, commercial partners, JBA board members, former Olympians) in Japanese basketball who could play pivotal roles in helping their nation recover from the recent setback. Meetings were also held with the Sport Ministry, the Japanese Olympic Committee and Tokyo 2020.

The main objective of the get-together was to discuss the cause and possible solutions to the crisis, including the creation of a Task Force that would be responsible for leading the necessary changes in Japanese basketball in support of and with the JBA. The members of this body are expected to be nominated by FIBA and start their work in January 2015.

The Task Force will have to:
1. restructure the JBA and ensure it is fully and efficiently functional under FIBA's General Statutes;
2. bring all top clubs under one pyramidal structure under the JBA and set up a sustainable and growing club competition system played with the Official Basketball Rules across the country;
3. establish a basic plan for the development of the game in Japan from school to elite in 5on5 and 3x3;
4. provide the base for the concrete preparation of the country's national teams leading into the 2020 Olympic Games and beyond.

FIBA's hope is for the situation to be resolved by June 2015, before the start of the season of continental championships which qualify men's and women's teams for the Olympic Basketball Tournament at the 2016 Rio Games.

"Basketball in Japan is a very popular sport amongst the young people. Imposing the sanction was therefore neither easy nor enjoyable," said Mr Baumann, who went on record at the time of the suspension to state his belief that basketball has great potential to become one of the leading sports in Japan.

"However, this is an opportunity for a reset after so many years of difficulties, an opportunity to regroup the whole basketball family around a new, common vision of growth and success. It is time for all clubs to regroup under one competition system, rather than continuing under the current damaging and unsustainable conflicting mode and for all schools to participate in a common effort of creating the next generation of talents for 2020 and beyond."

During his visit, Mr Baumann met with Mr Hakubun Shimomura, the Head of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. 

The Ministry said: "We also hope that FIBA will lift the suspension at the earliest possible date.

"It is preferred that the situation would be resolved within the sport society, but we do consider the current situation very seriously.

"We need to deal with it as soon as possible, and the government will follow up."

The Ministry expressed its concern that the ban would be a potentially cruel blow to those practising to compete at the Rio Olympics and at the (2020) Tokyo Olympics. Therefore the need for urgency in resolving the matter was the overriding theme, with all parties keen to deliver outcomes which would not only re-instate Japan and lift the suspension, but also build a bright and robust future for the sport in the future.

Mr Baumann also met with Mr Tsunekazu Takeda, President of the Japanese Olympic Committee and with Mr Yoshiro Mori, Chairman of Tokyo 2020, to exchange opinion on the crisis in Japanese basketball.

FIBA's next visit to Japan is scheduled for the end of January 2015.

FIBA