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Cheerleader Girls At The FIBA World Championships 2010
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The FIBA World Championship is an international basketball competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been held every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1950, except for two occasions. The World Championship is the world's most important basketball event, although the Olympic basketball tournament is considered to be equally prestigious.
The tournament structure is similar, but not identical to that of the FIFA World Cup; both of these international competitions have been played in the same year since 1970. A parallel event for women's teams, the FIBA World Championship for Women, is also held quadrennially, in the same year as the men's event, but in a different country. The current format of the tournament involves 24 teams competing for the title at venues within the host nation. The winning team receives the Naismith Trophy, first awarded in 1967. The current champions are Spain, who defeated Greece in the final of the 2006 tournament.
The FIBA World Championship was conceived at a meeting of the FIBA World Congress at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. Long-time FIBA Secretary-General Renato William Jones urged FIBA to adopt a World Championship, similar to the FIFA World Cup, to be held in every four years between Olympiads. The FIBA Congress, seeing how successful the 23-team Olympic tournament was that year, agreed to the proposal, beginning with a tournament in 1950. Argentina was selected as host, largely because they were the only country willing to take on the task. Argentina took advantage of the host selection, winning all their games en route to becoming the first FIBA World Champion.
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