FIBA - U19 World Championship officially opened

PRAGUE (FIBA U19 World Championship) - The 2013 edition of the FIBA U19 World Championship officially tipped off Wednesday evening in Prague with FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann opening the tournament dubbed "The Stars of Tomorrow".

"We're very happy to be back in the Czech Republic. The Czech Basketball Federation is a founding member of FIBA and has the values we try to transmit around the world," said Baumann at a ceremony held in the Czech capital and attended by dignitaries, teams and other officials.

Baumann called the Czechs a "model for other federations" as they keep investing in events while also respecting basketball's past.

The Czech Republic hosted the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women in Karlovy Vary, Ostrava and Brno. The city of Brno also hosted the 2005 U20 European Championship Women and 2004 U20 European Championship Men. And the 2011 U16 European Championship Men was played in Hradec Kralove and Pardubice.

Baumann said basketball fans should be excited about seeing many of the top stars of the future.

"We know we will see many of these players again in the Olympics and World Cups in the future," he said.

Czech Basketball Federation President Miroslav Jansta said he was happy to see a major international event take place in his country.

"This is traditionally a basketball country and always has worked on hosting sporting events,” he said.

“The Czech Basketball Federation tries to actively promote the game among the youth. And we firmly believe this championship will be successful."

The action gets underway at 13:15 local/CET time on Thursday, with Australia facing Senegal at the O2 Arena and Canada taking on Spain at Podvinny Mlyn Arena.

FIBA