A worldwide event. Ticino welcomes the 17th edition of the Senior Basketball World Championships with 6,000 participants who will compete in 1200 games throughout the canton. A sporting, tourist and economic occasion for the whole region.
The groom’s ball lands in Ticino for a ten days of fun, competitiveness and … basketball. Our canton hosts from today until 6 July the 17th edition of the Maxibasket World Championships, a basketball event for players no longer of the first fur. The president of the Swiss international Federation of Maxibasket Omar Ulrich He explains how he will take place: “There are 400 teams. To give an idea of numbers: a winter Olympic game brings 3000 athletes, one summer brings 8000 and we are at 6000 athletes. We have different categories. Every 5 years there is a category jump. We start from the over 30 up to the beauty of the over 85: incredible warriors. The older of the tournament is 89 years old”.
A total of 24 gyms between Lugano, Bellinzonese and Locarnese who will host 1200 games starting from Saturday with the first 160 challenges that will anticipate the inaugural ceremony at 17:00 with the parade in viale Stazione in Bellinzona of all the participating nations. Not only basketball because entertainment evenings will also be organized throughout the canton. An opportunity, this competition, to have a world -class cultural exchange. Which makes it very happy Augustin RodriguezPresident of the International Fimba: “This is the aspect of the international federation that makes me happier”, he claims, “is an event that brings happiness to the world and makes the same world a better place”.
A competition existing since 1991 with the first world championships in Buenos Aires for an international event. So much so that even the NBA Scottie Pippen champion was struck by a video of 80 year old Argentine: “It’s incredible”, Rodriguez tells us. “We wondered what was going on. I spoke with an eighty -year -old from the Argentine team -paese, among other things, where I come from – and he told me that his son was recording a video. The images were then shared by friends, from television, to the Argentine Espn. The video was then published by Scottie Pippen who republished him on his social channels. We made a billion views.”
The Maxibasketball World Championship is therefore an event not to be missed especially for our canton which will have an enviable economic, tourist and sporting induced. “It is not to be believed,” says Rodriguez to Ticinonews’s microphones. “When you understand the scale of this event, the quantity of people who will pour on the region and the amount of the days of overnight stays, then the positive consequences that Ticino will have will understand. The impact on the canton will be fantastic. We were talking about the economic aspect: when multiplied the 6000 people who will arrive in Ticino for the expenses they will support, arrive quietly to 10 million francs, perhaps even 12, 14 or 16. The economic impact that this event will have “. And then we just have to enjoy the whistle of basketball shoes on the parquet for 10 days of a sport that always gives emotions: “Basket for me is a very important thing. I grew up with the BC79. It is impressive to be here, I am very excited”, concludes Ulrich.
