Former Olympians and administrators of Japanese basketball who are anxious about the future of the game in the country have come together to form the Japan Basketball Improvement Conference (JBIC), it was announced Monday.

The JBIC was initially an informal gathering of former players and coaches from the men's national teams that played in the Olympics in the 1960s and '70s, but was officially registered as an incorporated association with over 30 members in late January.

Masatomo Taniguchi, the leading scorer on the men's team at the 1972 Munich Olympics and a former Japan Basketball Association managing director, was named JBIC president.