İstanbul to host opening ceremony of FIBA 2010 World Basketball Championship

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, State Minister Faruk Nafiz Özak and FIBA President Bob Elphinston will participate in the ceremony that will begin in Sinan Erdem Dome in Ataköy at 9:15 p.m.

The inauguration, which will host several shows and performances, will be broadcast simultaneously on 172 TV channels abroad.

Within the scope of the opening ceremony, internationally recognized Cirque du Soleil will perform a show for the first time in Turkey.

Turkish singers and composers Sezen Aksu, Fatih Erkoç and Müslüm Gürses as well as Greece's Harris Alexiou and Italian tenor Alessandro Safina will take the stage. Fire of Anatolia, Turkish dance group, will also perform in the ceremony.

FIBA 2010 World Basketball Championship will take place in four Turkish cities - İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir and Kayseri between August 28 and September 12. Around 350,000 people are expected to attend the championship.

The first round of the championship, which returns to Europe for the first time in 12 years, will feature basketball stars such as Boris Diaw, Carlos Arroyo and Anderson Varejao. However, several other superstars including Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Dirk Nowitzki will miss this year's tournament.