FRA - 21st World junior basketball tournament of Douai

DOUAI (Junior World tournament) - After so many years, the tournament has become a sports event that nobody would miss in Northern France and new financial agreements strengthen the relation between the Tournament and the Nord-Pas de Calais Region.

The 21st edition of the World Junior Tournament will be funded by some local investors and Adidas will be the new official equipment supplier and subcontractor.

Jean-Pierre Ciesielski, the Director of the World Junior Tournament explains: "These new investors have been found thanks to the task force Les Entrepreneurs headquartered in Douai and its General Manager Nathanaël Silvert."

The association with Adidas is simply based on "the sports equipment manufacturer's will to help the organizers of the Tournament as far as material is concerned while making this partnership likely to evolve next year."

Achieving such new partnerships as far as money and equipment are concerned proves that the staff of the World Junior Tournament, which will be held from June 6th to 10th this season, work with much enthusiasm.

Scheduled just one month before the FIBA U19 World Championship in Serbia, the 21st edition of the Douai tournament will be one important stage in the preparation campaign of teams hoping to win the world title.

Among the six teams (USA, Lithuania, France, China, Australia and Israel) that have confirmed their participation at the next Douai tournament, only Israel has not qualified for the 2007 U19 World Championship.

The new formula applied to the World Junior Tournament of Douai consists of a small championship allowing each team to meet each other and the best international players (Nicolas Batum of France, Omre Casspi of Israel, Chase Budinger of the United States, Martynas Gecevicius of Lithuania, etc.) to face one another.

About the World Junior Tournament of Douai:
Created in 1986, the World Junior Tournament of Douai welcomes the best international U19 basketball teams. Listed on the FIBA calendar, this tournament regularly welcomes future NBA stars. 35 players who previously took part in the event are now playing in the NBA (Tony Parker, Carmelo Anthony, Andrei Kirilenko, Luol Deng, etc.).

This year, the World Tournament will be held from June 6th to 10th in Carvin (June 6th and 7th) and in Douai (from June 7th to 10th).

For more information, please visit the official website