Its 13 weeks until the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship for Men takes to the court inAuckland from 2-12 July.Sixteen nations will descend on Auckland, bringing the worlds rising basketball talent with them. Some of the best basketball nations including the United States, Argentina, Croatia,

Greece, Spain and Australia are heading to New Zealand for the tournament. Close to 400 athletes and officials will be attending, along with 100 player scouts looking to sign up the future stars of the sport. NBA stars such as Vince Carter (United States), Luis Scola (Argentina), Pau Gasol (Spain), Andrei Kirilenko (Russia) and Australian Andrew Bogut have all played in previous FIBA U19 World Championships.

It is the first time New Zealand has hosted a FIBA World Championship event and will also be the first time the southern hemisphere has hosted the FIBA U19 World Championship for Men. The tournament will feature 62 matches played at the North Shore Events Centre, Takapuna and the ASB Stadium, Kohimarama. An excellent Draw Ceremony took place at Sky City early in March, when the tournament pools were drawn. The New Zealand Junior Tall Blacks have drawn Argentina, Croatia and Kazakhstan in their pool. Their first game will be against Argentina on Thursday 2 July at the North Shore Events Centre. Sky Sport are the broadcaster for the tournament and will be screening three games a day from Round 1, and all quarterfinals, semis and finals.

Various projects have been put in place to deliver a successful inaugural major World Basketball event in Auckland, New Zealand and inspire thenext generation of youth into the game. These will be outlined in upcoming issues of FIBA U19 World Championships Basketball Bulletin.

Local supporters of the event are Auckland City Council, North Shore City Council, New Zealand Major Events, SPARC and Tourism Auckland. SKYCITY Hotels is the official accommodation for teams and officials. Tall Black Pero Cameron and FIBAs Competitions Director Lubomir Kotleba at the Draw Ceremony

TOURNAMENT POOLS

POOL A                  POOL B

Greece                    USA

Lithuania               France

Puerto Rico           Iran

Angola                    Egypt

POOL C                  POOL D

Australia                Argentina

Spain                      Croatia

Canada                   New Zealand

Syria                       Kazakhstan

Schedule

July 2- 4 Preliminary Round

NSEC and ASB Stadium

July 5 Rest Day

July 6 - 8 Qualifying / Classification Round

NSEC and ASB Stadium

July 9 Rest Day

July 10 Quarter Finals / Classification

NSEC

July 11 Semi Finals / Classification

NSEC

July 12 Final / Classification

NSEC