OREANDA-NEWS.  The National Basketball Association (NBA) and petrochemical company SIBUR announced the launch of a refurbished multi-sports gym on August 29th at the Tyumen State Oil & Gas University branch in Tobolsk. The court will be the fourth sports venue refurbished under a multiyear partnership to provide safe and accessible basketball facilities, to develop basketball in Russia and to support an active lifestyle.

The opening ceremony, similar to past events, will be attended by an NBA legend, who will conduct a basketball clinic for local children at the refurbished court.

The court refurbishment process has already been finished with infrastructure renovation and installation of a new multi-functional court.  The gym will be outfitted with modern equipment set to NBA standards. The renovation will heavily rely on the use of polymers. The court improvement in Tobolsk will increase opportunities for the large student population and city residents, as well as SIBUR’s employees and their children, to learn and play the game of basketball.

SIBUR and NBA began its partnership at the beginning of 2014, with the goal of developing of basketball in Russia. Last year under the partnership three venues were refurbished in Perm, Tolyatti and Voronezh. The launch ceremonies were attended by NBA stars Brook and Robin Lopez and NBA Legends Robert Horry and Muggsy Bogues. The players conducted clinics for local children on the refurbished courts. These legends and players also held clinics for basketball fans in Moscow. Four-time champion Horace Grant of the Chicago Bulls also attended the NBA 3X tournament held in the Russian capital last year.

About the organizations:

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 more than 850 million likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms.  Through NBA Cares, the league and its teams and players have donated more than $260 million to charity, completed more than 3.3 million hours of hands-on community service, and created more than 970 places where kids and families can live, learn, or play.

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 $237 million to charity, completed more than 3 million hours of hands-on community service, and created more than 895 places where kids and families can live, learn, or play, in 25 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 is also a partner of the Association of Student Basketball.