In the women's three-person basketball bronze medal battle at the Tokyo Olympic Games, she defeated the French team 16:14 to win the bronze medal, which was also the first Olympic medal in Chinese three-person basketball. Image source: ICphoto
Beijing, December 31, 2021 Title: China's three-man basketball 2021: after the leap year, looking forward to a new take-off
Reporter Yue Chuan
Over the past few years, three-person basketball, which has been on the rise, has gradually become a new business card for Chinese sports. In 2021, with the highlight of the Chinese three-person women's basketball team on the Olympic podium and the national men's three-person basketball Super League (hereinafter referred to as the "Super Three League"), Chinese three-person basketball achieved a leap forward.
Led by the Chinese Basketball Association, a three-person basketball tournament is held in China, and its history can be traced back to 2004. Yin Zhe, deputy director of the three-person basketball department of the Chinese Basketball Association, believes that in the past 17 years of development, 2021 is a very important year.
With the postponed Tokyo Olympics as the core, the coming 2021 is a big year for sports, and it is also a historic opportunity to greatly enhance the visibility and influence of the project. Chinese three-person basketball has taken advantage of this shareholder wind.
This leap is inseparable from the excellent performance of the national team. Throughout the Tokyo Olympic cycle, the performance of the two national teams of Chinese three-person basketball is remarkable: the women's team has ranked in the top three in this summer's Olympic Games after being crowned the world champion in 2019; the men's team has also locked in the Olympic qualification early, although the results are slightly regrettable, they still use two victories to inject a shot of strength into the Chinese men's basketball in the trough.
On July 28, local time, in the women's three-person basketball bronze medal battle at the Tokyo Olympic Games, the Chinese three-person women's basketball team defeated the French team 16-14 and won the women's three-person basketball bronze medal. The U.S. team won the championship and the Russian Olympic Committee finished second. The picture shows the award ceremony. Photo by Du Yang, a reporter from China News Service
In particular, with the precious bronze medal won by the three-person women's team at the Tokyo Olympic Games, Chinese basketball has returned to the Olympic podium after 29 years, which is of special significance for the development of Chinese three-person basketball and even Chinese basketball.
These achievements have enabled the Chinese three-person basketball industry to continue to maintain a positive development trend, and also injected new momentum into the continuous promotion of the project in the future.
With the appearance of three-person basketball on the Olympic field and the continuous setting of events at the National Games, "basketball" has been redefined to some extent.
"In the usual understanding, basketball only refers to five-person basketball. Through repositioning, the meaning of basketball is more diverse, it includes five-player basketball and three-player basketball. This is a historic change and a landmark. ”
On July 24, local time, China's Hu Jinqiu (center) was pulled up by his teammates. On the same day, the Tokyo Olympics three-person basketball tournament was held in Tokyo's Aomi City Sports Park. Photo by China News Service reporter Tomita
However, from the perspective of systematic construction, three-person basketball cannot be compared with five-person basketball, and it is still in the process of self-iteration and improvement. In Yin Zhe's view, as a member of the basketball family, three-person basketball and five-person basketball will develop together.
"The movement properties of the two are not the same, and the mode of operation has changed greatly due to the different rules. Based on the high requirements of three-person basketball for anaerobic metabolism and the faster pace of offensive and defensive conversion, it has higher physical requirements for participating players. However, the training methods and means of basketball are the same, and I think that participants can choose independently at a certain age, which is more in line with objective laws. ”
Easy to carry out and conducive to promotion, which is one of the advantages of three-person basketball. From its first appearance on the world stage in 2010 with the Youth Olympic Games, to its promotion by FIBA as a separate event in 2012, and then to its official Olympic event in 2017, the speed of development of three-person basketball is remarkable. This also objectively reflects its popularity worldwide.
In the "China Basketball Sports Development Report" released by the Chinese Basketball Association a few days ago, the domestic core basketball population reached about 76.1 million, and a considerable proportion of the three-person basketball project with lower field requirements contributed to it.
Infographic: Three-to-three has a broad mass base
According to the data, in 2018, the number of three-person basketball games hosted by the Chinese Basketball Association has reached 55,000, and in 2019, it doubled to 110,000, with direct participants between about 800,000 and 1 million people.
However, the epidemic has had an impact on China's three-person basketball career on the fast track of development, especially in the public field, resulting in a sharp decline in the number of domestic three-person basketball games. In this process, the Chinese Basketball Association has carried out many explorations, and the "Three-Person Basketball Club Elite Tournament" is one of them. It is not only the predecessor of the current Super Three League, but also a practice of the Chinese Basketball Association to launch a professional event.
The long-brewed Super Triple League officially set sail this month, and the prize money of the event reached 6 million yuan. As a transition, a total of 21 teams have been invited to participate this season, of which 10 are the best in the previous three-person basketball tournaments under the Basketball Association, and the other 11 are new teams.
The "zero to one" attempt is another milestone in the development of chinese three-man basketball. Yin Zhe revealed that since the beginning of the event, many clubs have expressed a strong desire to participate. This undoubtedly sends a positive signal, so the setup of multi-tier leagues is possible.
On September 19, in the 14th National Games of China National Games three-a-side basketball women's under-19 group competition held in Xi'an, Shaanxi, Henan defeated Sichuan 11:10. The picture shows Yao Ming, chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association, watching the game on the spot. China News Service reporter An Yuan photographed
"At the level of competitive sports, as the fourth largest professional league under the Chinese Basketball Association after the CBA, WCBA and NBL, the Super Three League will be the most important platform for talent selection in the future; at the level of mass sports, through the construction of multi-level leagues, the emerging professional clubs will promote and promote the development of three-person basketball projects in various places like seeds." It is hoped that the professional league will be used as an opportunity to let more people know about three-person basketball, while expanding the scope of participation and opening up promotion channels, in order to gather more talents for the national team.
Entering a new year and a new Olympic cycle, Chinese three-man basketball is also facing new challenges.
With the increasing number of participants, it is difficult to fully cover the needs of the masses by relying solely on the strength of the Chinese Basketball Association. The focus of the work of the Chinese Basketball Association in the field of three-person basketball will shift from leading the organization of events to guiding and certifying social events, and incorporating various events into a unified system.
At the same time, FIBA will soon announce new rules for the integral algorithm, which will directly affect the future development direction of the project, and Chinese three-person basketball needs to be adjusted in time to build a new development framework.
However, no matter how the points rules are adjusted, three-person basketball, as a sport, always conforms to its objective laws - only when the competitive direction and the mass direction are both combined, can we maintain a long-term development trend.
The economic base determines the superstructure. Only by laying a solid foundation and building a broader mass base can we provide a more generous selection space for the national team at the tip of the pyramid, and then enhance the competitiveness of the head. Not only that, when the top blossoms and bears fruit, it will attract more people's attention and participation, which will form a virtuous circle. For example, with the Olympic bronze medal of the women's team, the three-person basketball has gained great attention in China, and it has been popular on social networks for a time.
On the evening of July 28, in the women's three-person basketball bronze medal battle at the Tokyo Olympic Games, the Chinese women's three-person basketball team defeated the French team 16:14 to win the first medal of the Chinese delegation in the event. Photo by Du Yang, a reporter from China News Service
However, in Yin Zhe's view, three-person basketball is still in the initial stage of development in China, and it is not fully known to the public, and the influence of the project needs to be further expanded. He said that popularizing and promoting three-person basketball, improving the attention and satisfaction of the masses, and establishing a mechanism and system for sustainable development are the focus of the project promotion.
Specifically, first of all, at the competitive level, promote the development of the Super Three Leagues and subsequent women's basketball leagues; second, maintain communication with FIBA, grasp the development trend of the project, and keep up with it in a timely manner, such as the landing of international events, the cultivation of high-level referees, the guidance of high-level athletes to emerge, the accumulation of points, etc.; the third is to gradually promote the three-person basketball event certification system, standardize the guidance and service for social events, and thus increase the participation base.
Overall, after years of hard work and accumulation, the popularity of Chinese three-person basketball has continued to rise, and it also has its own star players. The wide participation of social forces in the Super Three League shows the characteristics of three-person basketball that it is easy to integrate with other formats and cultures, and will also stimulate more possibilities for this project.
After the leap in 2021, China's three-player basketball is gradually entering a new stage of development. (End)