JPN - Molten President Tamiaki passes away

HIROSHIMA (FIBA) - The President of the Molten Corporation, Mr Fumiya Tamiaki, has passed away. Today, a private funeral was held in Hiroshima to honour the visionary enterpreneur who died a few days ago. He was 72.

Molten basketballs have been the offical game balls in FIBA competitions and Olympic basketball for over 20 years.

“It is with great sadness that we learned about the passing of a longstanding and good friend of basketball. Mr Tamiaki was the most loyal of our global partners and his support for the game exceeded the normal relationship between that of a sponsor and a sports body,” said FIBA Secretary General and International Olympic Committee member Patrick Baumann.

“He was always ready to help, whether it was sending thousands of balls to refugee camps or assisting with generous contributions to countries and regions that were most in need of it. We loose a brilliant enterpreneur who has been an important contributor to basketball’s success story over the past two decades. But we also loose a close friend. Our thoughts are with his family members.”

The first agreement between Molten and FIBA was signed by former FIBA Secretary General Borislav Stankovic in 1987. In 2004, Molten revolutionised basketball production with a new 12 panel basketball that has been used since in all offical FIBA competitions. In 2006, FIBA renewed the contract yet again for a ten-year period.

Founded in 1958, Molten is the world's largest ball and sports equipment manufacturer. They are the world leaders in producing basketballs, but they also produce balls for football, volleyball, handball and a varity of other sports as well as other sports equipment. Another big sector they are involved in is the production of automotive parts. They are headquartered in Hiroshima, Japan.

FIBA