The 2006 FIBA World Championship was an international basketball competition hosted by Japan from August 19 to September 3, 2006. It was co-organised by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), Japan Basketball Association (JABBA) and the 2006 Organizing Committee. Badtz-Maru, a fellow character of Hello Kitty from Japanese company Sanrio, was the official 2006 mascot.
For the first time since 1986, the World Championship was contested by 24 nations, eight more than in 2002. As a result, group rounds were conducted in four different cities, with the knockout rounds being hosted by Saitama City.
The tournament was won by Spain, who, in the championship final, beat Greece, 70–47, to finish the tournament having won all nine games played. The bronze medal was won by the United States, who defeated Argentina, 96–81, in the third place game.
Read more about 2006 FIBA World Championship: Venues, Squads, Competing Nations, Knockout Stage (Saitama), Awards, Top Scorers (ppg), Final, Final Standings, Referees
Famous quotes containing the word world:
“Poetry is the only life got, the only work done, the only pure product and free labor of man, performed only when he has put all the world under his feet, and conquered the last of his foes.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)