Thaindian News

Zhengzhou (China), Feb 13 (IANS) A series of farmer basketball games on the lines of the American NBA finals were held in a village of central China’s Henan Province Feb 10-12.

The farmer basketball games, popularly called as Chinese farmers’ NBA, lasted almost one year from pre-season to finals, featuring farmers from all over Henan. Although the skills of these farmer players were not very good, they enjoyed themselves very much as did the spectators.

The finals took place in a village named Daying located in the west part of Henan, and attracted thousands of farmers also as spectators.

The Chinese farmers’ NBA also has four sections, pre-season, regular season, playoffs and finals. Pre-season held in village is the most funny part in the whole season, Xinhua reports.

“I took part in the games since 2003. Almost all the playgrounds were made of soil at that time, and mud attached to skin and teeth after a game”, said 33-year-old Li Hongwei, who is the coach of one team participating in the finals and lived in a little village in west of Henan.

“Every game attracts lots of farmers as spectators. Sometimes they climb up trees and stand on the roof to see the match if there is not enough space to stand,” said Li.

The games in villages also have commentators and sponsors. The sponsors come from a diverse background such as a restaurant, shop or small factory owners.

“Skills and results are not important because the farmers are having fun,” said Li.

In regular season, the games are played between counties and the winners qualify for the playoffs between cities.

“The farmer basketball games were organised by themselves before 2003 in west part of Henan, and then the sports authority spread it to the whole province, and now about 300 thousand farmers take part in the games every year,” said Shi Zhanxiang, an official of sports bureau of Henan province.