President Marcos met with FIBA officials and members, including two NBA Hall of Famers.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. made a big assurance to officials of the FIBA central board as the country's hosting of the FIBA World Cup draws near.
Marcos held a courtesy call with the FIBA officials, together with top executives of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas and the Philippine Olympic Committee at the Malacañang Palace prior to the FIBA World Cup draw, which will be held tomorrow at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
In his speech, Marcos boasted to FIBA central board members, which include NBA legends Yao Ming and Dirk Nowitzki, about the love that Filipinos have for basketball, which he said will be felt all through out the tournament.
“If there’s one thing I can guarantee all of the central board members here in the Philippines is that you are going to have a very enthusiastic, knowledgeable, loud, passionate crowd for every single day,” said Marcos.
The president also expressed his excitement that Filipinos will get to see the world's best basketball players in action live in the country.
“As I am sure you know that in the Philippines, still, the most popular game that kids play and that people watch on TV is basketball… It will be such a great pleasure for Filipinos to watch all of these. All of these champions come now to the Philippines to play basketball,” said Marcos.
For its part, the FIBA central board invited Marcos to do the ceremonial toss at the opening ceremony of the FIBA World Cup.