- Molten Corporation
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Molten Corporation
株式会社モルテンType K.K. Industry Sports equipment
Automotive parts
Building materials
Nursing and welfare equipmentFounded November 1, 1958 Headquarters 1-8 Yokogawashinmachi, Nishi-ku, Hiroshima, Hiroshima 733-0013, Japan Employees 680 Website molten.co.jp
moltenusa.comMolten Corporation (株式会社モルテン Kabushiki-gaisha Moruten ) is a sports equipment and automotive parts company based in Hiroshima, Japan.
Their football, basketball, volleyball and handball are often used for official matches, games and competitions. Notably, Molten basketballs are the official balls for all FIBA worldwide competitions, and numerous domestic leagues outside of North America. Through the 2006-07 season, it supplied balls for the elite Europe-wide Euroleague, but the league's organizing body, ULEB, switched to Nike as its basketball supplier.[1] Molten is also the official volleyball producer for USA Volleyball and the NCAA Championships.
They offered their technology to the Teamgeist project and supplied the official football as OEM to Adidas for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
History
Founded in 1958, Molten is the world's largest ball and sports equipment manufacturer. Molten USA, Inc. was established in 1983 to bring these quality sports balls to the U.S. marketplace. Originally located in Southern California, Molten USA moved to northern Nevada in 1988 and continues to call the Reno–Sparks area its home.
Only six years after their founding, Molten basketballs, volleyballs, and soccer balls were the official balls of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Molten has been the official basketball for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles (1984), Seoul (1988), Barcelona (1992), Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000), Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008). Molten basketballs have also been the official ball for the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) for the past 25 years culminating in the Men's and Women's World Basketball Championship. This championship was held in the U.S. for the first time in Indianapolis in August 2002.
Molten volleyballs became the official ball for the U.S. national teams in 1997 and the boys' and girls' junior national teams in 2001. Presently clubs, regions, high schools, colleges and tournaments throughout the U.S. use Molten volleyballs.
Notes and references
- ^ "Euroleague Basketball Announces Partnership with Nike". Euroleague Basketball. 2007-06-28. http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/13989/180/item. Retrieved 2007-07-02.
External links
- Molten - international site
- Molten USA
Categories:- Sporting goods manufacturers of Japan
- Companies based in Hiroshima Prefecture
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