NW China province to hold teenage basketball skills tests online

XI'AN - Northwest China's Shaanxi province will hold groundbreaking online basketball skills challenge competitions for kids and teenagers amid the COVID-19 epidemic, announced the Shaanxi Basketball Association on Thursday.

The online event, starting from May 21, had five groups for players by age, including U6, U8, U10, U12 and U14. The young basketballers can register through the Shaanxi Basketball Association official account on China's social networking application Wechat.

The players should finish all the skills challenges as required and upload their certification short videos on Douyin APP, the Chinese version of Tiktok, before May 31. All the players who finish the competition will receive a prize, including basketball shoes and vouchers for training classes in a local basketball school.

Basketball legend Yao Ming and the Chinese Basketball Association are working on developing Chinese youth basketball for kids aged six to 12 years old. As the chief of the CBA, Yao is promoting a "small basketball" program which includes lower baskets, smaller ball, smaller court and other adjustments to make the game suitable for kids.

"Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, we couldn't hold any 'small basketball' games. But the stay-home skills challenge is a part of the larger 'small basketball' program," said Wang Libin, president of the Shaanxi Basketball Association.

"I hope the kids and the teenage basketballers of Shaanxi will play better and make greater contributions to China's basketball development," Wang added.