OREANDA-NEWS. The National Basketball Association (NBA) and SIBUR announced that the multi-purpose sports hall in the Voronezh State Institute of Physical Culture will be the third basketball court refurbished under a multiyear partnership to provide safe and accessible basketball facilities, grow the appeal of basketball in Russia, and promote an active lifestyle.

The court refurbishment process has already been launched, with the opening ceremony scheduled for Friday, December 12. The ceremony will be attended by the NBA legend Muggsy Bogues, who will conduct a basketball clinic for local children at the refurbished court. The court improvement in Voronezh will increase opportunities for the community, including SIBUR’s employees and their children, to learn and play the game of basketball.

Prior to his visit to Voronezh, Bogues will also visit Perm on Wednesday, December 10 to take part in a basketball clinic for local children in the Olympiets sports complex, the first basketball ground refurbished under the partnership programme of NBA and the petrochemical holding.

The NBA and SIBUR partner to implement a joint project to upgrade basketball courts in 10 Russian cities. On 2 August 2014, SIBUR and NBA opened the first refurbished basketball court in Perm. The opening ceremony was attended by two NBA stars, twin brothers Brook and Robin Lopez. On 19 September 2014, the second refurbished court was opened in Tolyatti, with the seven-time NBA champion Robert Horry present as a celebrity guest.

Muggsy Bogues played for the Washington Bullets, the Charlotte Hornets, the Golden State Warriors, and ended his career in the Toronto Raptors. He is the Hornets' career leader in minutes played, assists, and steals. He is currently the head coach of the United Faith Christian Academy basketball team in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Being only 1.60m tall, Muggsy Bogues is the shortest NBA player of all time. His style of play, stealing the ball from his much taller opponents earned him the nickname "Muggsy".

The NBA is a global sports and media business built around three professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, and the NBA Development League. The league has established a major international presence with offices in 13 markets worldwide, games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 47 languages, and NBA merchandise for sale in more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on 6 continents. NBA rosters at the start of the 2014-15 season featured a record 101 international players from 37 countries and territories. NBA Digital’s assets include NBA TV, which is available in 60 million U.S. homes, and NBA.com, which recorded 26.9 billion page views during the 2013-14 season, with more than half of all visitors originating from outside of North America. The NBA is the No. 1 professional sports league on social media, with 700 million likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms.

NBA Cares is the league's global social responsibility program that builds on the NBA's mission of addressing important social issues in the United States and around the world. Through this program, the NBA, its teams and players have donated more than \$242 million to charity, completed more than 3 million hours of hands-on community service, and created more than 915 places where kids and families can live, learn, or play, in 26 countries and territories on five continents. NBA Cares works with internationally recognized youth-serving programs that support education, youth and family development, and health-related causes, including: KaBOOM!, Special Olympics, YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, UNICEF, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Share Our Strength and GLAAD.

SIBUR is a uniquely positioned vertically integrated gas processing and petrochemicals company. SIBUR owns and operates Russia’s largest gas processing business in terms of associated petroleum gas processing volumes and is a leader in the Russian petrochemicals industry.

SIBUR supports multiple professional sports clubs and projects promoting a healthy lifestyle. In 2013, it provided financial support to build the SIBUR ARENA basketball facility in Saint Petersburg and sponsored the All Starts charity basketball game. In 2014, SIBUR joined the NBA programme to promote basketball in Russia. The Company also partners the Student Basketball Association of Russia. As part of its NBA partnership, SIBUR supported the first Moscow NBA 3X Basketball tournament held on 12–13 June at the Gorky Park in Moscow.