SAN JUAN (Americas) - The regional office of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) in the Americas announced it will visit Virgin Islands on November 16-19 to hold scheduled meetings with government officials, the national basketball federation in the country, the national Olympic committee and private entities.

The delegation of the International Basketball Federation will be headed by FIBA Americas President Mr. Usie Richards, Regional Director Mr. Alberto Garcia, and his assistant Victor Mansure.

The Virgin Islands is the ninth country visited in the previously announced program where 23 countries in the Americas are scheduled to be visited, with the main objective of strengthening relations towards implementation of FIBA’s new Competition System and Calendar. Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela were previously visited.

The new FIBA Calendar and Competition System from 2017 onwards opens a new era for basketball all over the world - one which features 1,680 top players during 1,200 national teams games and millions of fans all around the globe.

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This new system will serve as a qualifier to the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup to be played in China and that for the first time in its history will have 32 participating teams (7 from the Americas). Qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games will go through the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup and four Olympic Qualifying Tournaments.

Division A in the Americas will have 16 teams vying to claim one of the 7 spots to the FIBA Basketball World Cup. Virgin Islands qualified to Division A in the 2016 Centrobasket Championship that also qualified Puerto Rico, Mexico, Dominican Republic and Panama. They will be joined by Argentina, Brasil, Colombia Uruguay, Venezuela from the 2016 South American Championship. USA and Canada were automatically qualified from the North sub-zone. The remaining four teams will be determined as the result of a qualifying tournament to be played in July 2017 and featuring the 6th-8th place teams from both Centrobasket and South American Championships.

The visit in Virgin Islands will begin today, Wednesday, November 16th with a meeting that involves the leadership of the Virgin Islands Basketball Federation, Member Associations, FIBA Coaches and Referees and the Department of Sports Park and Recreation.

On Thursday and Friday, the delegation will meet Government Officials from the Department of Tourism, VI Lottery, EDA, Port Authority and Senate, Olympic Committee officials, Private Sector and Chamber of Commerce representatives.

"The Virgin Islands are essential for the establishment of the new FIBA Competition System and Calendar.”, said FIBA Americas President Mr. Usie Richards. "It is very important that all the basketball entities understand in detail the great challenges this new Competition System will entail for the Virgin Islands Basketball Federation (VIBF) and we want to assist them in having their opportunities maximized and establishing a work plan guaranteeing that the implementation is a resounding success. This visit and their willingness to work with the International Basketball Federation is proof that the country is taking on the task of entering this new era in our sport with the unity and togetherness it deserves. We are looking forward to meeting and presenting in detail the new competition system to the government officials, the private sector and chamber of commerce representatives on the road to having the country make our continent even stronger leading up to tip-off in November 2017."

FIBA