FIBA makes major changes on court and rules

BEIJING, Aprll 26 (Xinhua) -- International basketball competitions after 2009 will have longer range three-pointer arc and several major changes on the court as the world basketball governing body announced on Saturday here.

A Central Board Meeting of the International Basketball Association (FIBA) was held during an international women's basketball competition here and top officials released the decision after two-day meeting on Saturday.

The range of the 3-pointer arc to the basket is extended, from the current 6.25 meters to 6.75 meters, which leaves only three-quarter-meter distance from the 3-point line to the side line at the position paralleling to the basket.

"Players need not to change the shooting skill when the 3-pointline is half a meter away from the current one. But if we change it to the distance that the NBA matches are using, it might cause big problems," FIBA General Secretary Patrick Baumann said on Saturday.

The farthest position of the 3-point line in the NBA is 7.25 meter away from the basket. It is on the top of the arc.

"We must take more levels of competitions into account. Not all the players are as good as the NBA players. We have lots of U-19s and U-17s who need time to make adjustment to the changes," Baumann added.

The restricted area, or three-second area, reshaped from a trapezoid to a rectangle.

A no-charge semicircle is introduced into the international games. The distance of the inner edge of the semicircles is 1.25 meters from the center of the basket.

A charging foul should never be called if the contact by the offensive player is with the defensive player standing within the no-charge semicircle.

If 13 seconds or less are displayed on the 24-second device when the game is stopped, it will be not reset to another 24 seconds but to 14 seconds to the offensive team. If 14 seconds or more left, the 24-second device will not be reset and the time remains the same.

"I'm sure these changes will make the game more watchable, encouraging teams to attack more and to have high scorings," FIBA President Bob Elphinston said during a news conference at Wukesong Arena.

All these changes will not come into effect until October 1, 2010, after the 2010 FIBA World Championship, and the deadline is October 1, 2012 to lower level FIBA competitions and to competitions of national federations after the 2012 London Olympics.