HUTB 2025 Faculty Basketball Tournament Concludes with Thrilling Matches

2025-04-30

United in Purpose for Progress, Rising to the Challenge for New Horizons. The award ceremony and exhibition match of the HUTB 2025 Faculty Basketball Tournament were held at Yangfan Stadium on the evening of April 29. Academician Chen Xiaohong, Secretary of the CPC HUTB Committee and Director of Xiangjiang Laboratory; Liu Guoquan, Executive Deputy Director of Xiangjiang Laboratory; and Hou Junjun, Member of the CPC HUTB Committee, Vice President, and Deputy Director of Xiangjiang Laboratory, attended the event and presented awards to the championship, runner-up, and third-place teams. Representatives from relevant functional departments, chairs of sub-unions, and faculty-student delegates also participated.

At the awards ceremony, Academician Chen Xiaohong presented the championship trophy to the first-place team, "Growth Upward Team" (Xiangjiang Laboratory Sub-Union), and awarded a Special Contribution Prize to the "School of Sports and Health Team." Liu Guoquan, Executive Deputy Director, presented the runner-up trophy to the "Roots Downward Team" (a joint team from the Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies Sub-Union and the School of Digital Media Engineering and Humanities Sub-Union). Vice President Hou Junjun presented the third-place trophy to the "Compute Supreme Team" (a joint team from the School of Computer Science Sub-Union, the School of Accounting Sub-Union, and Administrative Division 6 Sub-Union). Award presenters and winning teams posed for commemorative photos amid enthusiastic applause and cheers from the audience.

The exhibition match immediately commenced. The game featured an All-Star "Faculty United Team" composed of the tournament’s top four teams—"Growth Upward," "Roots Downward," "Compute Supreme," and "New Quality Productive Forces"—competing against the "School of Sports and Health Team."

The electrifying atmosphere saw players uphold the spirit of "Friendship First, Competition Second—Showcasing Style and Skill," demonstrating teamwork and top-tier competitiveness in a thrilling, high-caliber showdown that captivated the audience. The match showcased seamless teamwork and coordinated offense-defense strategies, with players aggressively battling for possession, making precise passes, and executing swift interceptions. Their accurate shooting, clever assists, lightning-fast counterattacks, and tenacious defense drew waves of cheers from the captivated audience. The audience, captivated by the exhilarating match, watched with rapt attention and roaring enthusiasm, igniting an electric atmosphere across the venue.

During halftime, the university staged a spectacular cultural performance, further energizing the crowd. The majestic dragon dance, perfectly synchronized with the thunderous drumbeats, moved with effortless grace—a seamless display of China’s intangible cultural heritage. The elegant yoga performance delivered a mesmerizing blend of strength and beauty, showcasing advanced technical poses that added a unique artistic dimension to the intense competition.

Following the match, attending leaders posed for commemorative photos with players, faculty, and students on-site, capturing cherished moments of this year’s tournament. With this, the basketball tournament concluded on a perfect note.

Reportedly, the HUTB 2025 Faculty Basketball Tournament commenced on April 14, featuring eight teams formed through collaborations among various sub-unions. These teams competed in a round-robin format, fostering camaraderie through sports while determining final rankings based on cumulative points. This tournament was designed to further implement the national fitness strategy, actively advance the "Sports HUTB" initiative, and vigorously promote the healthy lifestyle ethos of "one hour of daily exercise for fifty years of healthy work and a lifetime of well-being." It aims to enhance faculty wellness and unite efforts toward building an innovative, first-class university with vitality.

(Written by Li Meiqi, Zhou Yali and Zhang Gaoyang and photo by Tu Hua, Bao Xinyu and Liu Taorui)