TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Asia Pacific team has won against the United States’ Mid-Atlantic team in virtual Jr. NBA Global Championship in July 2020. The NBA has finally resumed its 2019-2020 season after being suspended for more than four months due to the COVID-19 pandemic and managed to present a global basketball championship for 13 and 14-year-old children.

The APAC (Asia-Pacific) team, including players from Australia and the Philippines, showed the world that they could accomplish achievement in the global tournament even though they have to practice and compete virtually from home.

An Indonesian player from Bandung, Claudius Teo, who represented the APAC Team in the 2020 virtual Jr. NBA Global Championship shared his unique experience. “I won’t forget the feeling and experience that I got by competing with global youth players virtually, especially this year, APAC team could be the winner in the boys' division,” he said in a press release received by Tempo on August 27.

Claudius and the APAC team managed to defeat the teams from China, Mexico City, Latin America, and Mid-Atlantic to secure the champion position.

The players also acquired life skills development sessions, got to join the community service, as well as cross-cultural experience as Jr. NBA collaborated with VirBELA and Event Farm to support the cross-cultural experience, by creating a virtual campus to let the participants have their own avatar to interact with other players across the world.

Nearly 3,000 teens around the world participated in 2020 Jr. NBA Global Championship which featured the best players from eight U.S. regions (Central, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, Northwest, South, Southeast, and West) and eight international regions (Africa, Asia Pacific, Canada, China, Europe & Middle East, India, Latin America, and Mexico).

This year's Jr. NBA Global Championship participants competed in a series of virtual basketball competitions using advanced artificial intelligence.

Tempo.co | LA