Japan Basketball Association President and Japan 2024 Task Force co-Chair Saburo Kawabuchi said that FIBA's suspension of the JBA has "practically" been lifted and its national teams are again permitted to participate in int'l competitions, according to Kaz Nagatsuka of the JAPAN TIMES. Kawabuchi said that the JBA "still needs final approval from FIBA during its upcoming Central Board meeting." But he added that FIBA has "decided to allow the JBA to resume its international activities." Kawabuchi: "(Okawa told me that) FIBA assessed highly what we've done in this short period. (Task force co-chair and FIBA treasurer Ingo) Weiss was saying that he was pleased to see that we've merged the two leagues into one, agreeing to build 5,000-seat arenas, and we were fast to head into the right direction in a short period of time." Since '05, Japan has had two men's professional leagues, "the JBA-backed NBL (or its predecessor, the JBL) and the upstart bj-league, despite repeated demands" from FIBA to unify them. This was one of the "major reasons cited for FIBA's suspension of the JBA last November along with its lack of governance" (JAPAN TIMES, 6/19).
