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Beijing Aoshen Olympian to play in ABA this season

October 13, 2005 - American Basketball Association (ABA) News Release


Indianapolis, IN. The American Basketball Association (ABA) today announced that a team from Beijing, China will compete in the professional basketball league that begins play in November. According to Joe Newman, ABA CEO, "We've been working on this project for months. The ownership and team is outstanding and will make a great addition to our league. It has taken the efforts of many people to make this happen. We know that having the Olympian in the league will make for a more exciting league. The Olympian will play in the Red Conference in Southern California. We will be making many announcements in the days to come."

The Aoshen team was established in 1997. Since that time the team and organization has strived to build up the only privately owned Chinese, first-class, professional basketball team. Following the principle that training and experience is of primary importance, the organization has invested in recruiting outstanding young people with great basketball talent, improving on this talent by receiving training from experienced and famous American, Yugoslavian and South Korean international grade coaches.

In 1998, Aoshen showed its potential by winning the Asian Club Championship, and earned a position in the CBA (China Basketball Association) Division I. Since 1998-2005, Aoshen has placed as high as 4th in the CBA League Championships. Gifted with physical ability, including players over 7 feet in height, other players have shown great basketball skill. One player, Sun Yue, joined the China National Team. The skills of these players have even attracted the attention of the NBA. By providing such high caliber training to young players, teaching the fundamentals of the game and allowing the team to gain the experience needed to develop their skills and talents, the Olympian is now able to truly show fans worldwide their abilites and that this fresh approach to the game of basketball knows no borders.

George Pickering, Olympian spokesperson added, "We are very pleased and proud to be a part of the ABA. The diversification of this league along with the tremendous skills of the teams truly sets it apart from other leagues. We have a very good team and will be very competitive. We are hoping to be one of the premiere organization in the ABA."

Note: OurSports Central no longer actively covers the American Basketball Association (ABA) as a professional league due in part to its inability to publish and play a schedule and the transitory nature of many of its teams. For information on professional minor leagues, please see OSC's basketball section.



American Basketball Association Stories from October 13, 2005


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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