TURKEY 2010…
AND THE SPANISH WORLD
CHAMPIONSHIP OF 2014
ON THE HORIZON
The draw for the group phase of the Turkish World Championship was held on
15 December 2009. The competition will take place from 28 August to 12
September.
The draw was held in the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul, and the result was the following:
Group A /Kayseri. Serbia, Argentina, Australia, Jordan, Germany and Angola.
Group B /Istambul. Croatia, Brazil, Tunisia, Slovenia, Iran and USA.
Group C /Ankara. China, Turkey, Russia, Puerto Rico, Ivory Coast and Greece.
Group D /Esmirna. Lithuania, Lebanon, France, Spain, Canada and New Zealand.
The phase of the last 16, and the rest of the final matches will be held in Istanbul where the new
world champion will be decided. As a whim of the draw the first team in group B will play the first
from group D in the semi-finals, which could mean that the USA and Spain, gold and silver
medalists in Beijing 2008 could play each other for a place in the final.
On Saturday 23 May 2009 in Geneva, Spain won the right to hold the 2014 World Championship.
Two ols acquaintences of the spanish league, Aleksandar Djordjevic and Arvydas Sabonis,
magical basketball talents in their day, had the task of opening the envelope containing the name
of the host nation. Hours before, the members of the FIBA Central Bureau had voted on the three
candidates for the big prize: China, Italy and Spain, France and Denmark, also hopefuls, had
pulled out of the RACE before the final sprint. The Asians were eliminated in the first vote and in
the second Spain got 11 of the 19 possible votes. Congratulations came from Bob Elphinston,
FIBA president, and Patrick Baumann, secretary general of the organisation. The 2014 World
Championship would be in Spain.
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FUNDACIÓN PEDRO FERRÁNDIZ