XI'AN, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- The first-ever FIBA World Basketball Summit, a gathering of stakeholders from across the globe mapping out the future of the sport, opened here on Wednesday.
"The theme of the Summit, 'Building the Future of Basketball Together', sums up the spirit in which the event is going to be held, and bring out the idea of sharing and collaboration within the global basketball family," FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann said in the Federations Keynote.
On Wednesday and Thursday, more than 500 high-ranking personalities in world basketball and the other related fields will plan to outline a blueprint for the future development of world basketball.
President of Russian Federation of Basketball Andrei Kirilenko, President of Basketball Federation of the Philippines Alfredo Panlilio, both said that under their governments' powerful support on building basketball courts, more and more children begin to play basketball. What's more, 3X3 event and the women Basketball career have made great progress.
"But we are lack of coaches, coaches are not professional coaches, they have to help kids enjoy the game a little bit more," Kirilenko said.
"Kids from eight to twelve associate themselves with whatever they do. And they play basketball at this age, they are gonna be hooked for life," the 37-year-old former NBA star told Xinhua.
"This is an event for the whole basketball family and the businesses which work in and around it. It is an opportunity to meet, share and learn, " said Baumann. In his opinion, either earning money or winning medals is not the utmost purpose of every nation and region in developing basketball.
He called on everyone in the court to build a more harmonious world through communications and collaborations.
