BEIJING (China) - The FIBA Awards Ceremony took place in Beijing today at the Sheraton Grand Beijing Dongcheng Hotel. This ceremony is part of the XXI FIBA Congress and recognizes the most successful National Federations across a variety of awards. 

The ceremony presented nine awards across various categories. 

The first award, the National Federation Ranking Award, was awarded to the top 3 ranked National Federations as per the FIBA World Ranking presented by Nike. The winners were:
FIBA Girl's Nike World Ranking 2019
#1 - USA
#2 - Spain
#3 - France

FIBA Boy's Nike World Ranking 2019
#1 - USA
#2 - Canada
#3 - Lithuania

FIBA Women's Nike World Ranking 2019
#1 - USA
#2 - Spain
#3 - Australia

FIBA Men's Nike World Ranking 2019
#1 - USA
#2 - Spain
#3 - France

The next award, the National Federation Progression Award, was awarded to the top 3 most improved National Federations from the period between 2017 and 2019, as per the FIBA World Ranking presented by Nike. That is the National Teams with the highest number of ranking points gained during this period. The winners were:
Most Improved Teams 2017 - 2019 Girls
#1 - Germany
#2 - Samoa
#3 - Belarus

Most Improved Teams 2017 - 2019 Boys
#1 - Estonia
#2 - Israel
#3 - Slovenia

Most Improved Teams 2017 - 2019 Women
#1 - Nigeria
#2 - Virgin Islands
#3 - Paraguay

Most Improved Teams 2017 - 2019 Men
#1 - Montenegro
#2 - Netherlands
#3 - Estonia

The 3x3 World Ranking Nation 2019, awarded to the top 3 National Federations of the FIBA 3x3 as of 1st July 2019 was given to: 
#1 - Russia
#2 - China
#3 - Mongolia

The 3x3 Most Improved Nation was awarded to National Teams with the highest number of ranking points gained during the period of 2017 to 2019.  The winners were:
#1 - Mongolia
#2 - Russia
#3 - China

The National Federations with the 3x3 Highest Number of Active Players were: 
#1 - China
#2 - Russia
#3 - France

The Most Popular National Federations on Social Media which was calculated by each National Federations total number of followers across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Weibo was:
#1 - USA
#2 - Turkey
#3 - Argentina

Over the course of the Qualifiers, the campaign #ThisIsMyHouse was used to encourage fan interaction.  Impressions were over 5 billion across social media during the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers. This award went to the top 3 National Federations who were the most active with this campaign. 

Best FIBA World Cup Qualifiers Campaign for #ThisIsMyHouse winners were:
#1 - Sweden
#2 - Italy
#3 - Japan

Best Basketball for Good Project Award was given to the top 3 most active and successful National Federations who have used the power of basketball to initiate positive change. This project needed to have involved the community, be innovative, inclusive and have a social impact. The winners were: 
#1 - Botswana
#2 - Mexico
#3 - Papua New Guinea

Lastly, the Presidents Award 2019 was awarded to the leader of a National Federation from each continent. This award was to recognize the work, commitment and positive impact on basketball made by each person and their National Federation during the past 5 years and was selected by FIBA President Horacio Muratore. The winners were:

Africa - Mr Harouna Boubacar Maiga of Mali
Americas - Mr Rafael Fernando Uribe Vasquez of the Dominican Republic
Asia - Mr Govindaraj Kempareddy of India
Europe - Mr Manuel Fernandes of Portugal
Oceania - Mr Gregory Williamson of New Zealand

This awards ceremony was attended by delegates from 156 National Federations. The XXI FIBA Congress continues tomorrow, Friday, August 30 with Breakout Sessions and the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony which will be live on YouTube from 13:00 - 16:00 (GMT+8).

The Congress concludes with the delegates attending the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Opening Ceremony, on Friday evening at the Water Cube. 

View photos of the FIBA Award Ceremony here.  

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About FIBA

FIBA (fiba.basketball) - the world governing body for basketball - is an independent association formed by 213 National Basketball Federations throughout the world. It is recognized as the sole competent authority in basketball by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
 
For further information about FIBA, visit fiba.basketball or follow FIBA on facebook.com/fiba, twitter.com/fiba, instagram.com/fiba and youtube.com/fiba.