China has always been dependent on sports-speciality academies and teams to produce the best hoopsters. But a top official believes that with the sport spreading everywhere around the nation, star players will soon come from colleges and universities.

"Universities will be the source of our basketball reserve team in the near future. I believe after 10 years, junior high school, high school and university will be the main production line to develop China's professional basketball like the NBA," said Hu Jiashi, vice-director of the National Basketball Administrative Centre. "We have over 600 teams in universities with more in junior schools, while we have only about 90 professional teams."

Apart from the premier pro league China Basketball Association (CBA), the nation has had a series of amateur basketball leagues - high school basketball league, China University Basketball Association (CUBA), and China University Basketball Super League.

To further promote the sport and have more people join, the Chinese Basketball Association launched an all-nation amateur basketball competition this year -- China Basketball Open (CBO).

The competition starts with games played between teams in different cities before moving onto provincial competitions.

Any Chinese citizen over the age of 18 can register in the tournament. Those non-Chinese basketball fans who have remained in China for over one year will also be able to join in the fun.

Hu was on a visit to Xining Competition Zone last week, one stage of CBO, and was glad to see basketball's increasing popularity in some undeveloped sports cities and provinces.

"Now we have 21 provinces and cities taking part in CBO in the first season, and it is developing more rapidly than I have expected. Amateur basketball has moved to a new level," Hu said.

"CBO will inspire people at different ages to play basketball. It is extremely helpful for children and teenagers. CBO will spark their interests and will have more to play the sport from junior schools."

Hu is also optimistic basketball will soon be the nation's top sport.

"As long as we take further efforts to develop the grass roots, basketball will be the most populous and widespread sport in the near future."

With two years to go till the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China has put more effort into promoting community and countryside sports.

According to a programme that the State General Administration of Sports (SGAS) unveiled last month in Beijing, at least one regulation-size concrete basketball court equipped with a pair of standard basketball stanchions will be built for each village involved in the programme, and will also receive two outdoor ping-pong tables.

This is one of the projects being undertaken in rural areas as part of the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10).

By 2010, around 100,000 Chinese villages, or one-sixth of the estimated total, will be provided with these facilities, benefiting 150 million farmers, according to the programme.

This year the National Development and Reform Commission will provide 10 million yuan (US$1.25 million) to the programme, along with more than 80 million yuan (US$10 million) from the SGAS. Regional governments will be expected to contribute wherever additional funding is needed.

Source: China Daily