FIBA's suspension of the Japan Basketball Association has "practically" been lifted and its national teams are again permitted to participate in international competitions, JBA president and Japan 2024 Task Force co-chairman Saburo Kawabuchi told reporters in Tokyo on Friday night.
Kawabuchi said that the JBA still needs final approval from FIBA during its upcoming Central Board meeting, which the sport's world governing body will hold in Tokyo in early August. But he added that FIBA has decided to allow the JBA to resume its international activities.
This decision was made during a two-day Executive Board meeting, held on Thursday and Friday, at FIBA headquarters in Mies, Switzerland, before the aforementioned scheduled event later this summer, when the official ruling to authorize the ban's end will be on the agenda.