BANGKOK (Thailand) - The presence of FIBA President Horacio Muratore is a constant in all global events and the FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup 2019 in Thailand is no exception. Having visited Greece for the men's tournament recently, Muratore is in the Thai capital of Bangkok to watch the stars of tomorrow in the women's game.

In an interview with FIBA.basketball, he underlined the importance of developing women's basketball and talked about the exceptionally organized tournament in Thailand, as well as another inspirational story of African success and the growth of basketball in the continent of Asia. 

How does it feel to have this prestigious event held in Thailand for a second time?

To say the truth, we very happy and very satisfied. FIBA trusted Thailand again. They have been doing a great job. What gives me most satisfaction now, after talking to the teams, they are all happy with the organization and with the attention the people in Thailand are giving to the tournament. You can really feel it throughout the tournament – from the spectacular welcome dinner with all the participants and local authorities, the incredible opening ceremony to every day at the arena, the hospitality is amazing incredible opening ceremony to every day at the arena, the hospitality is amazing.

It's a great opportunity for the Basketball Sport Association of Thailand with the work they are doing to develop the basketball. It's one of the objectives of FIBA to grow basketball in the world. The strategy is to develop our sport in different parts of the world, to increase the size of the community in the different federations of the world. This tournament is global, on TV, and able to attract a wide audience with a lot of fans. Thailand needed this because basketball is not the main sport there. They need this type of events.  

Mali became the first-ever African team to reach the Quarter-Final stage of the FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup? What does it say about the emergence of African basketball?

It has been incredible to see the accelerated growth of African basketball. The development of the sport in Africa can only be defined as a story of success, and this is true for women just as it is for men. Senegal and Nigeria becoming the first teams from the African continent to progress to the Final Phase at the Women's World Cup last year in Spain marked a tipping point and we see that this momentum is trickling down in the youth competitions as well. By reaching the Quarter-Finals here in Bangkok, the girls from Mali showcased the potential of the continent once again by doing something that had never been done before. Keep in mind the fantastic success Africa had at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup in Heraklion, where Mali put the continent on the podium for the very first time in a global competition. It really is an exciting time for African basketball and it is very symbolic that the next FIBA President will be from Mali too!

Asia has become a big basketball hub with the World Cup in China, Tokyo 2020 and then the World Cup in 2023. Can you talk about the importance of Asia to FIBA and the current momentum in the region?

It's like an avalanche of tournaments for Asia right now. To say the truth, we are very happy with it. It will be really beneficial to hold so many big tournaments in Asia in terms of developing the sport here. We need to have a strong zone there in Asia.

We changed the national team system in FIBA to really integrate the regions and get closer to them with increased participation from all National Federation with the help of the Qualifiers. The greater implementation of the 3x3 also helped us to reach a greater community and also to get more people dribbling basketballs.

How important are these events for the development of women's basketball around the world?

For us it was important to change something in order to improve the development of women's basketball. It was impossible for us to exactly replicate the new men's competition system. We are developing the competitions around the Continental Cups with more qualification games to the next Olympic Games and FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup. With this, we have made a big step for women's basketball. But this is not enough, we need to continue the growth of the women's game, and the game in general.

FIBA