MADRID (FEB) - The III Immigration World Basketball Championship was presented Wednesday morning at the Real Casa de Correos in Madrid with the presence of José Luis Sáez, President of the Spanish Basketball Federation and the Sociocultural Foundation; Javier Fernández-Lasquetty, Minister of Immigration at the Comunidad de Madrid; Javier Hernandez, vicecounselor; and Carlota Castrejana, Deputy for Sports.

During the second and fourth weekend of November Dominican Republic (winner of the first two editions), Ecuador, China, Morocco, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, USA, Philippines, Poland and Peru will fight for the crown of this third edition. Also, this year´s edition will include a women's competition for the first time with a representation of four teams: Ecuador, Dominican Republic and two Bolivian squads.

A total of sixteen teams and 240 athletes will participate in this activity, a project that aims to help and integrate the immigrant and native population of Madrid through the sport of basketball, organized by the FEB Sociocultural Foundation, the Basketball Federation of Madrid and the Regional Ministry of Sports with the collaboration of 'Red Deporte y Cooperación' and Ibercaja.

The President of the Spanish Basketball Federation, José Luis Sáez, presented the event and declared that "our intention has been to grow and perform a better activity each year". "In recent years the FEB has compromised to achieve a social commitment and this project is a great way to bring them to reality." About the participation of female teams, a novelty for this year´s edition, Sáez said that "one of our bid´s commitment to host the 2014 FIBA World Championship was to apply the words 'Equality and Cooperation' and the Immigration World Basketball Championship is one more example to show that our Federation wants to meet these objectives. We will continue to work on the fourth and the fifth edition as well as in new projects to help integration ", concluded Sáez.

FEB