A record crowd has been set for a single game on the first day of the Basketball World Cup.
The match between co-hosts Philippines and Dominican Republic was watched by 38,115 spectators in Bocaue, north of Manila, on Friday, according to world governing body Fiba. The previous record was 32,616 fans who watched the 1994 World Cup final between the USA and Russia live in Toronto, Canada.
The Philippines’ opener and Italy’s earlier victory over Angola are the only matches in the World Cup tournament to be played at the 55,000-capacity Philippine Arena. Originally, the entire final round from the quarter-finals onwards was planned to be played in the world’s largest indoor arena.
But Fiba changed its mind in April this year and moved the finals to the much smaller Mall of Asia Arena, which is also located in the greater Manila area. The federation cited difficult logistics as the reason. Since the three World Cup hosts, the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan, had promised a record World Cup setting in their bid, the two matches on Friday were awarded to Bocaue.