Basketball+in+China+A+Brief+History

"Basketball in China: A Brief History." //Hoopedia The Basketball Wiki//. Web. 15 Sep. 2010. . Basketball in China “Basketball in China started in the YMCAs. Dr. Willard Lyon founded the first YMCA in China (in Tientsin, now called Tianjin).” “On December 5, 1895, Lyon presided over the first game of basketball played in China, at the Tianjin YMCA. The Nankai Five Tigers ( 名扬天下 ) team trained there, too.” “In 1910 the YMCA organized the first national athletic competition in China, in Nanking. Basketball was one of the sports.” “While the games were organized by Americans, the athletes were all Chinese.” “These YMCA activists were also responsible for organizing the first Far Eastern Championship Games, first held in Manila, Philippines in 1913.” “Shanghai hosted the 1915 games. Chinese President Sun Yixian (Sun Yat-Sen) remarked on the ability of these games to unite athletes from Canton, Shanghai and Peking -- regions known to feud -- to compete for one China.” “The YMCA movement in China reached a peak in 1918 when it established a university to train Chinese physical education instructors.” “The school failed for financial reasons.” “Changes in personnel, combined with a rising tide of anti-Americanism, caused the YMCA to pull back in China.” “By 1927 they were no longer a force on the Chinese athletic scene.” “In 1921 China upset the Philippines in the championship game of the Far Eastern Games, capturing their first gold medal in basketball.” “ Sun Liren, star of the Qinghua University team and future Nationalist Army commander, led the team to this historic triumph.” “Shanghai's St. John's University, coached by Phillip B. Sullivan, won the 1923 national championship and represented China at the 1923 Far Eastern Games, where they finished with the silver medal”. “Shanghai's St. John's University, coached by Phillip B. Sullivan, won the 1923 national championship and represented China at the 1923 Far Eastern Games, where they finished with the silver medal.” “They became the team to beat in China and Japan, until the civil war disrupted athletics in 1927.” "Basketball was first played in the **Olympic Games** in 1936, although a demonstration tournament was held in 1904." "This competition has usually been dominated by the United States, whose team has won all but three titles, the first loss in a controversial final game in Munich in 1972 against the Soviet Union." "Women began to compete at the Olympics only in 1976, with teams such as the Soviet Union (now Russia), Brazil and Australia rivaling the Americans." "In 1950 the first FIBA World Championship for men was held in Argentina. Three years later, the first FIBA World Championship for Women was held in Chile."

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