Japan Moving Toward FIBA Reinstatement

(ATR) Teams within the Japanese Basketball Association (JBA) are now authorized to prepare for all competitions sanctioned by the Federation of International Basketball Associations (FIBA).

The first tournament Japanese teams may compete in is the 2015 FIBA Asia Championship at the end of September. Teams are allowed to participate in warm-up games in Japan and internationally.

The executive committee of FIBA made the decision on Thursday to allow Japan to resume preparations for competitions based on an intermediary report conducted by the Japan 2024 Task Force. The report details progress made by the JBA since being suspended by FIBA in November of 2014.

JBA was suspended as a result of failing to restructure its organization in order to comply with FIBA’s general statutes, among other issues.

Following the suspension, the JBA created a 10-person task force that began work in January to resolve the outstanding issues within the organization. The task force focused on three areas of improvement: top league, governance and basketball development.

Although Japanese national teams may practice for the upcoming competitions, they will not be able to compete in them unless FIBA decides to lift the suspension of JBA at a meeting in Tokyo between August 7 and 9. They will base their decision on the final report given by the JBA task force.

If Japanese national teams can compete in the FIBA Asia Championships and FIBA Asia Women’s Championships, they could potentially earn a qualifying spot for the Rio 2016 Games by winning the tournament.

A second or third place finish would send them to the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for another chance at earning a spot at Rio.

Written by Kevin Nutley

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.