HISTORY
Basketball has become increasingly popular among elite deaf athletes around the world. For several years, numerous international and national basketball competitions have been organized under the governance of the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD), which also oversees a variety of other sports, including the World Championships and the Deaflympic Games.
On Saturday, May 2, 1998, in Turku, Finland, the first provisional board for deaf basketball was formed. It consisted of:
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Jussi Raiso (Finland) – President
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Aleksas Jasiunas (Lithuania) – Vice President
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Christian Boklund (Sweden) – Secretary General
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Riina Kuusk (Estonia) – Board Member
From left to right: Jussi Raiso, Riina Kuusk, Christian Boklund, and Aleksas Jasiunas
During this founding meeting, the board proposed the establishment of a dedicated world governing body for international deaf basketball. Their aim was to focus entirely on the development of the sport and to improve the standards and well-being of deaf basketball players worldwide.
This initiative led to the founding of the International Deaf Basketball Association (IDBA). The board drafted the first IDBA Constitution, including its Statutes and Regulations, and began informing deaf basketball communities around the globe about the new organization.
The official founding of the Deaf International Basketball Federation (DIBF) took place at the first Congress, held on Saturday, July 20, 2002, in Athens, Greece. Delegates from National Deaf Sports Federations with active deaf basketball programs voted with a two-thirds majority to establish the organization and elect a new international board.
To enhance the organization’s global visibility and recognition, the name was changed from IDBA to DIBF.
Sixteen (16) countries signed on for the official founding of the Deaf International Basketball Federation (DIBF):
Australia, Chinese Taipei, Finland, Great Britain, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United States of America.
Download the official founding document of the Deaf International Basketball Federation (DIBF), signed by 16 member countries.