Official FIBA World Cup 2023 Game Ball Reveal Kicked Off Weekend Of Excitement For Tournament

The basketball world's eyes will be turning to the Asian region for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, and the excitement was made even more palpable following the events this Saturday at the Draw Festival in the Philippines.

Fans were able to catch their first official glimpse of the official Molten game ball that will be used throughout the tournament when it was launched in front of the Uptown Mall at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

The ball, which was dubbed the "Passion Wave," sports eight golden hearts on opposite ends of the white trim with wave elements on the sides of the ball, visually mimicking a heartbeat, representing the love basketball fans have for the sport.

Alongside those elements, Molten's branding is placed on the larger side of the two-tone trim, with the official 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup logos placed below it.

Performance-wise, players should have no qualms about the newly implemented designs as it is based on the Molten BG5000 series, which has been used in international competition since August 2019 and even received a special design for FIBA Eurobasket 2022.

Those hoping to get their hands on the ball will be hard-pressed to find one in the coming months as its production is only going to be limited to 500 – at least in the short term.

When asked about the public availability of the official 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup ball, Molten's head of brand marketing Noa Hasegawa noted that 500 is only the initial number of balls in production since they are prioritizing the event first and foremost.

However, fans will be able to own one in the coming months as production ramps up, Hasegawa added.

A promo video of the game ball produced by FIBA can be viewed here.

Hours after the official game ball reveal, attention headed toward the Araneta Coliseum in the Cubao area of Quezon City for the official draw.

The official groupings for the event are as follows:

• Group A: Angola, Dominican Republic, Philippines (hosts), Italy
• Group B: South Sudan, Serbia, China, Puerto Rico
• Group C: USA, Jordan, Greece, New Zealand
• Group D: Egypt, Mexico, Montenegro, Lithuania
• Group E: Germany, Finland, Australia, Japan (hosts)
• Group F: Slovenia, Cape Verde, Georgia, Venezuela
• Group G: Iran, Spain, Cote d'Ivoire, Brazil
• Group H: Canada, Latvia, Lebanon, France

It is worth noting that despite being a co-host of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup alongside the Philippines and Japan, Indonesia failed to qualify as it was unable to meet the requirements set for them by FIBA's executive committee – a top-eight finish in the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup.

With all things in place, the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup is set to provide fans all over the world with non-stop basketball action from Aug. 25 to Sept. 10.