Fair Play Is The Order of the Day In Turkey

ISTANBUL (2010 FIBA World Championship) - The 2010 FIBA World Championship is on course to be the cleanest in history with the least number of fouls ever.

So far, the average number of fouls by teams per game – 19.7 - is the lowest out of all the tournaments since the first competition in Argentina in 1950 when there was an average of 20.6 committed by teams per game.

The host nation Turkey is leading the way in fair play with the least number of fouls per game with an average of 15.6.

The FIBA World Championship with most fouls was the 1970 tournament in the then Yugoslavia when there was an average of 29.3 fouls per game.

Lubomir Kotleba, Sports Director of FIBA, said: “Obviously, there is still long way to go but we are very pleased to see that the world championship is played in a spirit of friendly but determined competition. The coaches and players have been excellent and we hope this pattern of fair play will continue.

“The referees have been directed to let the games flow as much as they can and that could be a factor in the low ratio of personal fouls per game so far.

“We will be keeping a close eye on the conduct of the teams on the court and will make a full assessment of team conduct on a game by game basis.”

The figures so far confirm a recent downward trend. In 2002 in the USA, there were 23.2 a game but this decreased to 21.6 in Japan in 2006.

FIBA.org