Last weekend, two international events heated up Chongming. For the first time, the FIBA 3x3 Basketball Masters Tournament took to the courts in Shanghai, gathering 12 top teams on the beautiful Hengsha Island, competing fiercely for Olympic qualification points; meanwhile, the 2023 Tour of Chongming Island International Women's Road Cycling Series, with its 20-year history, provided a passionate cycling carnival for riders, fans, and tourists. These sports activities, set against the backdrop of green fields and rivers, will help Chongming's rural tourism sprint to new speeds, becoming a new eco-friendly business card for Chongming to strengthen international cultural exchanges, enhance its global reputation, and promote tourism.

On the evening of October 15, the 2023 FIBA 3x3 Basketball Masters Tournament (Chongming Station) came to its climax. As night fell and the lights came on, amid the countryside of Hengsha, the Ulaanbaatar team from Mongolia won the championship with a close score of 21:19 against the strong Serbian team, Liman. Chai Wensheng, the Executive Director of the National Team Construction Committee and Leader of the 3x3 Basketball National Team, Wang Haiwei, a member of the Shanghai Municipal Sports Bureau Party Group and Secretary of the Competitive Sports Training Management Center Party Committee, Chen Lijun, a standing member of the Chongming District Party Committee and Head of Publicity, and Shi Lei, Deputy District Governor, attended the final match.

As the highest-ranked event in the FIBA 3x3 Basketball series and the official event that offers the most points for the Paris Olympic Games, the 2023 FIBA 3x3 Basketball Masters Tournament (Chongming Station) attracted 12 top teams to compete.

From the first day of group matches, each team competed fiercely, with precise shooting, letting people feel the elegance of this top-tier event, as well as the significance of competing for the Chongming Station. In tonight's final, both teams chased each other closely, biting the scoreline. With the final free throw landing steadily, the Ulaanbaatar team emerged victorious.

The 9 Chinese players from the 3 local Chinese teams performed exceptionally with the encouragement of the home crowd. Among them, the Beijing and Wuxi teams advanced smoothly to the knockout stage, and Zhang Ning and Qi Haotong's Serbian powerhouse Liman team also made it out of the group successfully, with Chinese players' contributions and roles in the team becoming increasingly important.

Despite the Beijing and Wuxi teams failing to advance further in the second day's knockout rounds, Liman team, including Zhang Ning and Qi Haotong, cut through the competition, defeating Belgrade Guerrillas and Omaha teams to reach the final. Although Liman lost to Ulaanbaatar from Mongolia by just 2 points in the final, the points earned from this second-place finish are precious in the critical run-up to the Paris Olympics.

"Did you go to the game?" "Did you see Yao Ming?" The 3x3 Basketball Masters Tournament became a hot topic among island villagers. At the event, in addition to the over 800 filled seats inside the venue, crowds also gathered outside the courts, creating a basketball frenzy in Hengsha Township.

Next to the competition area, the leisure experience zone, where parents and children rested, played, and dined, allowed them to enjoy family time amidst beautiful pastoral scenery; at the "Hengsha Excellent Products" agricultural product booth, National Day new rice, early-ripen tangerines, taro, and other local specialties of Hengsha were highly sought after, with many tourists stopping to make purchases.

The 12 top teams gathered on the beautiful Hengsha Island to fiercely compete for Olympic points. The organizing committee fully integrated Shanghai's diverse local characteristics with street basketball elements to help the Masters Tournament achieve a breakthrough effect.

The Hengsha Island Art Countryside, the venue for the event, ingeniously combined the noisy street basketball with the quiet rural landscape. Amidst the lively setting, there was peace, and in the stillness, there was movement, offering people the dual pleasure of enjoying both the sports competition and the pastoral scenery. These sports activities amidst green fields and rivers will help local rural tourism accelerate, contributing to the construction of Chongming as a world-class ecological island with the power of sports.