Maxibasketball World Championships confirmed for Christchurch
24 september 2003
Christchurch has been confirmed as the host city for the 8th FIMBA World
Maxibasketball Championships. The Championships will be held in Christchurch
from 22 - 30 January 2005.
Maxibasketball, which is played in more than 60 countries, involves teams
of Masters age grade basketballers, with age categories starting from 35 years
for men and 30 years for women.
The announcement that the next event had been awarded to Christchurch was
made at the 2003 Championships in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday 10 September.
Previous Maxibasketball World Championship events have been held in Buenos
Aires, Las Vegas, Helsinki and Ljubljana, Slovenia.
The 2005 event will attract about 100 teams from around the world and ten
from throughout New Zealand, bringing between 1500 and 2000 people into
the city for the nine day tournament. This is expected to generate an economic
benefit, running into the millions of dollars for the city and the region.
The organiser for this event, Neil Blanchfield (Great Events Ltd) says
he is thrilled to have finally secured it for the city after three years
of work. Mr Blanchfield approached Christchurch City Council in late 2000
to assist with the bid for the 2005 championships. “Great Events is
grateful to the Leisure Unit at Council for supporting our bid and helping
to secure this exciting masters event for the city,” he said. “This
further enhances Christchurch’s reputation for attracting and hosting
large international sporting events.”
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