SAITAMA - Japan may have become the first hosts ever to miss the knockout
stages at any World Basketball Championship, but the organisers hope Asian
giants China will help keep pulling crowds to the arenas.
"China are not yet on their mettle but we wish they will come alive in the
final tournament and pump up the event on behalf of Japan," said Takeshi
Ishikawa, executive director of the Japan Basketball Association.
China, the Asian champions led by 226 centimeter (7ft 5ins) Houston Rockets
star Yao Ming, barely made the four-nation cut at 2-3 in Group D in Sapporo on
Thursday.
Japan, fifth ranked in Asia, bowed to medal favourites Spain 104-55 in
Hiroshima to leave the 24-nation event with one win and four losses in Group B.
All the host nations of the 14 previous men's championships have made the
last eight at least.
Tickets were sold out for matches at Sapporo's 6,400-seat Kitaeru Center and
Hiroshima's 6,100-seat Green Arena, Ishikawa said.
Group D also featured the United States, studded with National Basketball
Association (NBA) stars and dead set to regain their world number-one status.
"It was the first time that this (Hiroshima) venue was roaring for
basketball," he added.
But the Group A and Group C venues in Sendai (5,700 seats) and Hamamatsu
(4,600) were never filled up with the occupancy rate ranging between 48 percent
to 91 percent.
"In Sapporo, public enthusiasm had been heated up because the United States
and China were on the cards," Ishikawa said.
The US squad finished the group unblemished and will fight Australia on
Sunday in a last-16 match at the 18,500-seat Super Arena, the venue of the whole
knockout tournament, in Saitama.
In 1997, Japan won the right to host the World Basketball Championship for
the first time as part of a project linked to urban development in the satellite
city north of Tokyo.
Only tickets for standing room are left for the semi-finals and final at the
66 billion yen (570 million dollar) multi-purpose arena. But seats for higher
layers are still available in earlier matches, according to the ticketing agency
Ticket Pia.
"It is a pity that Japan could not take part in Saitama but we wish Japanese
fans will see basketball at its highest level and realise the joy of the sport,"
Ishikawa said.
Despite high viewing rates elsewhere reported by the world governing body
FIBA, the event has not been televised live by any Japanese terrestrial
television network due to the sport's popularity ranking below baseball,
football and sumo.
Only paid digital satellite services has been airing the action live.
