Country basketball games with animal awards

An areial photo taken on March 26, 2023 shows the basketball court prior to the third-place match between Team Tongren and Team Bijie in Taipan Village, Taijiang County, southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua/Ou Dongqu)

With its lively atmosphere and down-to-earth awards, the first "beautiful countryside" basketball league finals in southwest China’s Guizhou province made a hit on the Internet and was dubbed as "Village BA" by netizens.

Later, a similar event happened in Gong county, Guizhou’s neighboring Sichuan province. The county’s "Village BA" ushered in its final with nearly 3,000 fellow villagers flocking to the scene to cheer for their teams.

The athletes are all local villagers, and the cheerleading performance featured Miao songs and dances. The prizes were ducks, pheasants, preserved pig's trotters and big fat pigs. All made the atmosphere more rustic and joyful.

There are currently over 30 basketball groups in the Gong county, with over 40 thousand people participating all year round.

Source: Xinhua; trans-editing by Guo Yao