MIES (Switzerland) - FIBA's Global Partner, Molten, have continued their successful Female Local Champions Program at the recent FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2023, which was co-hosted in Israel and Slovenia. 

Originally rolled out at the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2022 in Australia, the program saw a national search conducted to recognize the efforts of women promoting and growing female basketball participation within their local communities. 

Oshra Amoyal, General Manager of Hapoel Petah Tikva Women's Basketball Club, was chosen as the Local Champion in Israel, while Katarina Rumpf, was selected as the second Female Local Champion from Slovenia. 

Amoyal was recognized for her efforts working with local schools to promote basketball to girls of all ages, providing after-school programs supported by the municipality's Sports Department. Amoyal believes the key to female participation is making your own leadership in local clubs.

"In our club, we believe that the older players need to be a tutor to the younger players," she said. "Every month, we run an all-club activity where the players aged 16-18 escort the players aged 10-12 during practices and games.

"We also try to connect girls who live close to each other so that they come to training together."

Katarina Rumpf at the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2023 in Slovenia 

Meanwhile, Rumpf, who coaches U12 and U14 boys for the Kosarkarski Klub Jelsa Smarje Basketball Club in Slovenia, was selected from a national search, recognizing her commitment to the club and her local community.

"The program has once again been a great success, giving our winners the chance to network and make connections in the industry that they can take back to their local communities. It's also an opportunity to celebrate all the incredible things they have already achieved," Hasegawa said.

Rumpf spent two days at the FIBA Women's Eurobasket, getting a behind the scenes tour, visiting the press room, the media mixed zone and watching games from courtside.

Rumpf also had the opportunity to attend the FIBA Women in Leadership Forum, held in conjunction with Eurobasket.

The program in Israel took a new approach, with Local Champion Amoyal getting the opportunity to invite two young players to the EuroBasket 2023 program with her. They got a memorable experience of the EuroBasket with a behind-the-scenes tour, seeing first-hand the mixed zone, the press conference room and attending games to catch all the action.

FIBA Executive Director Europe Kamil Novak said: "We are extremely pleased to have our Global Partner, Molten, a company that strongly supports women in basketball, continue with this great initiative. One of the goals of our strategic priority, Women in Basketball, is to actively seek ways to increase the role of women in basketball at all levels, and programs like this are a wonderful way to recognize individuals and their great work."

Oshra Amoyal behind the scenes at the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2023 in Israel

Molten Head of Brand Marketing, Noa Hasegawa, said: "The Molten Female Local Champions program was designed to recognize coaches and volunteers who have championed female participation in the community.

"This is our second time working with FIBA to roll out the Molten Female Local Champions Program and it continues to be a huge success."

"Molten is proud of the legacy this program is building with women in basketball internationally and we are excited to see where it can go in the future."

Belgium celebrated a historic maiden FIBA Women's EuroBasket title with a victory over four-time tournament winners Spain in the Final, played in Slovenia. Belgium was competing in the Final for the first time in their history and finished the 2023 edition with a perfect six wins from six to become the 12th different winner of the competition.

FIBA