From 11th December to the 13th December, the Western Academy of Beijing hosted the first ever Beijing Challenge Basketball Tournament.
As a legacy of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, this tournament aims to increase cooperation and develop understanding and friendships between International and Chinese schools through the medium of sport.
The tournament program targeted two divisions, boys and girls, promoting the sport of basketball. The tournament format involved six boys teams and six girls’ teams. In each gender division, 3 teams will represented Chinese national schools and 3 teams represented International schools.
Nine schools competed in this tournament, including Dubai American Academy who traveled all the way from United Arab Emirates for this event. Participating schools were as follows;
Boys Division
Chen jing lun High School
166 High School
Epoch High School
Dulwich College Beijing
Dubai American Academy
Western Academy of Beijing
Girls Division
35 High School
Xuanwu Sports School
No 3 Shunyi High School
Western Academy of Beijing JV
Dubai American Academy
Western Academy of Beijing
The tournament proved to be very balanced. All the teams competed strongly with many very close matches including several going into over-time periods. In the Boys Tournament Final, Epoch High School proved to have the edge over the boys from Western Academy of Beijing. The Girls Division Final resulted in the host school, WAB, completing an undefeated tournament as they achieved victory over No.3 Shunyi High School in an exciting game 48-45.
The Beijing Challenge Basketball Tournament was an outstanding success in that not only did the event showcase great basketball from the student athletes participating, but also more importantly, respect and friendships were developed.
This tournament could not have been the success that it was without its sponsors, and for that we would like to recognize the support the tournament received from Beijing United Hospital, Holiday Inn Lido Beijing, and most importantly, Capri-Sun.
