NBL invites Chinese basketball clubs to participate in relaunched pre-season tournament

Relaunching its annual pre-season tournament as the Australian Basketball Challenge (ABC), the National Basketball League has announced that the series will feature all eight NBL clubs, alongside two international teams.

For the inaugural competition, taking place in Brisbane from 23rd to 26th September, China Basketball Association (CBA) teams, Zhejiang CB Golden Bulls and Tianjin Ronggang, will be participating, with each team expected to bring their full strength squads, including a number of American imports.

NBL General Manager, Jeremy Loeliger, said the involvement of international teams has been a result of working closely with the CBA on a number of partnerships with the NBL.

Loeliger explained “we have had considerable support from our counterparts in China and are delighted to have teams from both Zhejiang and Tianjin attending this year’s tournament.”

The inclusion of two international teams annually aims to build the profile and strength of the NBL with Loeliger already in discussions with clubs for next year.

He added, “In the future we see the ABC being a competition that involves teams from around the globe including the United States, Asia and Europe. We already have very strong interest from all three regions for next year’s competition, which is already in the works.”

The competition will be live streamed into China as well being available for streaming via the NBL website for Australian fans.

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