NAIROBI, Kenya, September 11 – When he is not at his 9 to 5 job, Gao Mu is usually shooting hoops with friends and playing basketball with his team, Xinda Group.
He admits the sport has offered him an opportunity to make friends in Kenya through the many games they play against local teams.
“Yes…we usually play against some of the local teams on the weekends. Some of them from the local leagues…even some of the referees, they are our friends. We always get together and play matches,” Mu says.
He is not afraid to admit that most of these matches are usually a mismatch in which their local opponents usually excel by virtue of their physicality.
“Kenyan players, like most Africans, they have very good physical features. They are big and tall…with tall arms and they can run very fast. We always lose when we play against them,” Mu says with a chuckle.
He was popping champagne on Sunday afternoon, however, after he skippered his team to victory in the Kenya China Basketball Tournament after a 92-87 win over Kenya China Tours at the Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani.
Mu said the win was a four-year dream that had been fulfilled after they finished third at the last edition of the tournament in 2019.
“There are some of our former teammates who returned home to China and had really wanted to win this trophy for so long. We have always dreamt of winning this tournament and today we did it for them. We are so happy to have fulfilled the dream because last time we finished third,” he said.
Mu added: “Both sides wanted to win it so badly but I guess we wanted it more.”
Unity through sports
The Kenya China Basketball Tournament, organised by the Kenya Overseas Chinese Association, brought together 12 teams from different Chinese companies in the country.
Gao Wei, chair of the association, described sports as an effective avenue for cementing good relations between countries as well as cultures.
“Between countries, you cannot only talk about business. You must use your culture as well as sports to link your people. This kind of event will have a good effect in terms of bringing people together. Also, you see our event is a Chinese event but the sponsor is a local bank, which is Stanbic Bank. We have also seen Stanbic Bank basketball team playing against a Chinese team and the Kenyans, they were so strong. We believe that such competitions will bring our people together,” Wei said.
The association donated Ksh 80,000 to Hope Centre Community in Kawangware, out of which Ksh 50,000 will be used to purchase sporting equipment like balls to aid in training as well as Ksh 30,000 in cash.
Wei said the donation were proceeds from the registration fees paid by the participating teams in the competition.
He spoke of how they are using sports to connect to the local communities.
“Sports is easy to use to link people because it does not need language. When you play, you just communicate through the movement of the body. Through years of interaction in this competition, you find that they become friends. Usually, we do not have Chinese teams playing against each other so during weekends you will always find mixed teams of Kenyans and Chinese playing together,” Wei said.
The successes of the competition notwithstanding, Wei admits the Covid-19 period was a trying time for the association as the pandemic put a halt to many activities.
“When we had the first edition in 2017, there were 10 teams but we grew to about 16 teams by 2019. However, the pandemic came and so we couldn’t hold this tournament until this year. We had 12 teams this year because most companies are only just getting back,” he explained.
Going forward, the association hopes to include Kenyan teams in the tournament.
“That is our plan…we will grow this one into a friendship tournament. It will no longer be a basketball tournament but a friendship tournament in which we will invite Kenyan teams to play…but not the professional ones, against them we would never win. So, we are looking at including the local teams…like from local companies,” Wei says. In other results of the day, China Civil Engineering Company (K) beat China Road Bridge Construction (CRBC) 62-46 as Stanbic Bank beat China All Star team 62-38.
