President Duterte to witness grand Fiba World Cup opener

The Beijing National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube, was built alongside Beijing National Stadium for the swimming competitions of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

The stage is set for the 2019 FIBA World Cup opening ceremony on Friday night at Beijing’s iconic Water Cube.

The show will be divided into four parts to represent the four quarters of a basketball game. A giant basket will take up the center of the stage.

Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said President Rodrigo Duterte will join Chinese President Xi Jinping at the opening night.

Vice President Wang Qishan will then accompany President Duterte to travel to Guangdong Province where the Philippines will open its bid against Italy on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Host China’s first game will be against Côte d’Ivoire at the capital’s Wukesong Arena.

Organizers said the opening ceremony will showcase a blend of Chinese culture with basketball at the venue that was used for aquatic events during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“The programs in this show emphasize the internationalized expression of Chinese elements, as well as the combination of our traditional culture with fashionable sports. Therefore, the whole original program we present in this show is about the aspects of culture, sports and fashion,” Jia Ding, director of the opening ceremony, said.

The 31 August to 15 September event has a record 32 participating teams competing in eight Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Dongguan. A total of 92 games will be played over 16 days.

Meanwhile, Hamane Niang will succeed Horacio Muratore as FIBA president after a unanimous win. He will serve until 2023.

Niang has been vice president and FIBA Africa head since 2014 and was former president of the Mali Basketball Federation and a Mali Minister of Sport.

Ingo Weiss from Germany was reelected for a second term as FIBA Treasurer.

Representatives of 156 national federations attended Thursday’s elections. (CGTN, Eurohoops)