FIBA President Aims for Gender Equal Basketball Growth

(ATR) Newly elected FIBA President Hamane Niang says he wants to encourage more growth for basketball in Africa and Asia.

Niang, who first played basketball as a youngster on the streets of Mali, was elected in August to lead FIBA for the next four years. The post rotates among the continental vice presidents of the Swiss-based federation. He is the eighth president of FIBA from Africa.

Niang says "older kids" showed him and his friends how to play basketball in Mali, where he was born in 1952. Educated in business and finance, he has held executive positions with petroleum companies in Mali. He has also held governmental posts, including Minister of Youth and Sport.

Niang shared his ideas for FIBA and basketball in a conversation last month with Around the Rings on the sidelines of the ANOC World Beach Games in Doha, Qatar. He talked with ATR Editor Ed Hula and correspondent Brian Pinelli.

Around the Rings:Soccer may be the number one sport for Africa, but basketball isn’t far behind?

Hamane Niang: It has become a very popular sport discipline. I can’t really compare it to any other sport in Africa, but it is very popular. The big difference in basketball in Africa from its beginning is the quality of skill today. Men and women. It is a very accessible sport for both genders.

If I take the example of my country, football is more accessible because you can play it anywhere. Regarding basketball you need a minimum of two baskets. We need some equipment. That’s why at the base of the sport we need more equipment.

ATR: As FIBA President you now have the ability to impact policy. What would you like to accomplish as president?

HN: I’d like to point out that there is already a long-term strategy for basketball. There are eight pillars to this plan. The first points deal with the fact that FIBA cannot grow without the support of strong national federations. So we have to protect, encourage and develop these national federations.

The second priority is to bring women to basketball. Not just playing on the court but involved with basketball, coaching and administration, to be involved in the life of basketball.

As you know women are the mothers of all of us. If you bring the woman, you bring everybody behind. You bring the family, the community. This is a way for us to enlarge the global basketball community.

These pillars, these priorities were adopted at the FIBA Congress in Beijing where I was elected in August. As president of course I want to make these my priority. But I also want to make infrastructure one of my priorities. In Africa, and the Caribbean for example.

ATR:There is quite a difference between the infrastructure available in countries like the United States and smaller countries such as Equatorial Guinea?

HN:I don’t want to compare the US with smaller countries. I am not a magician with a magic wand. But my goal for the next four years is to try to speed up the development.

And if I might make a observation about the United States and a country like Mali, in the under 19 basketball World Cup a few months ago. The team from Mali gave their best against the U.S. Thanks to the drive and determination of the team, Mali won the silver medal against the U.S. We play very well.

ATR:What is the role of the NBA in FIBA basketball?

HN:The league and FIBA are complementary. The NBA is on the board of FIBA. The best examples are in development, with the NBA forming a shared lead with FIBA in Africa. We are also doing this in Europe and Latin America.

We are also looking into this kind of shared league owned by us being developed in Asia. This will encourage clubs to develop and encourage the sport.

The basketball league of Africa has been developed on a 50-50 basis with the NBA. But we are clever about it if I might say because we have the NBA handling operations of the league.That means the NBA is taking care of the base of the pyramid. They are developing the clubs, the first level of coaching. The NBA is growing clubs to a new level of professionalism.

Of course the challenge to FIBA and the NBA is to have the right infrastructure, venues that are correct to welcome these competitions. If we want to grow in terms of quality we have to have the correctvenue.

ATR:There is no Barclay’s Center in Africa….

HN:No, but we are beginning to have venues with a capacity of 15,000 in Africa.

ATR:What is the future of 3 x 3 basketball and its place in the sport with the classic five player format ?

HN:Both disciplines are going to grow in a complementary, parallel way. 3 x 3 is new. It’s very enjoyable, like what was created for the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. In front of 9,000 spectators, five or six thousand inside and the rest outside. I think the Buenos Aires s showed the rest of the world that the IOC and FIBA did not make a mistake when they included 3 x 3.

If I may take a moment to extend my respect to our late secretary general, Patrick Bauman who passed away a year ago. He put all his energy into that proposal to have the IOC recognized this discipline.

IOC President Thomas Bach supported this decision of course. Thomas Bach loves the sport.

When you look at the success of 3 x 3 you really have to look at the success of the Youth Olympic Games, the world tour, with incredible attendance. This is a real success and in Tokyo we will see the next steps. I’d like to recall that the original slogan or motto for 3 x 3 was "from the streets to the Olympics".

We still need to organize Olympic qualifying tournaments for those teams who have not yet qualified for Tokyo. It was a first for FIBA. We never had so many places wanting to organize the 3 x 3 qualification tournament.

So the vision for what you call "regular" basketball, and 3 x 3 growing for youth, we want to make this the biggest global community for sport.

ATR:At the recent World Cup the US didn’t do so well. Other teams such as France, Germany were competitive. Iran qualified for the Olympics at this tournament. Is this a good thing for other countries to come forward and not have the U.S. win all of the big championships?

First of all we had this championship in China and I want to thank our hosts in China once again. The organization was terrific. China set the standard very high for the quality of the organization.

In terms of basketball, let’s take the example of Poland. The level of competition that Poland brought to this game. For me the World Cup is a chance to experience these kind of surprises. I want to talk about Nigeria too. Nigeria lost at the end. It has been a bit difficult for us, but it is a nice surprise to have newcomers like these teams playing well.

The top five, top six remained more or less the same. The best thing this World Cup in China proved to us that basketball is growing, there is an evolution. Today there is change in the quality of the teams, an evolution that is good..

China was also a sign of how basketball will be accepted globally at the Tokyo Olympics. It’s going to be very hard for the 12 teams going to Tokyo. It’s going to be very high level. I would like to say this is in parallel, the same with women’s basketball.

We will have three levels of competition to pick the 12 teams who will compete in Tokyo. This shows our commitment to bring high quality basketball to the women’s Olympic tournament. This is the first step we have taken to increase the quality of women basketball at the Olympics.

Before you are directly qualified for the Olympics from the zone. Now we make them play more, train more. And then we are able to bring a top-quality teams to the Olympics.

ATR:Some people are critical of some top NBA players such as LeBron James not taking part in the Olympic qualifying. Do you need these players in Tokyo to bring some star power to the Olympics, as ambassadors for the sport?

HN:You are right. Their absence has been noted. But I wish to say that on the American team there are many good players. They did the job and deserved recognition for what they did in China. It’s clear that these NBA players are raising the standard of play.

For the sport that we love, for the fans, we need the stars of our sports satisfied to watch the games. If we want to grow the community we have got to give them play games. So the stars from all of the countries should be there. And that’s how we grow as a basketball community.

Conducted October 16, 2019 in Doha, Qatar by Ed Hula and Brian Pinelli..