The bitter cold didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the youth basketball players.

The Korea Basketball Association concluded the ‘Skyward Inje 2023 National Youth Basketball Tournament’ in Inje-gun, Gangwon-do, on Sept. 9-10 and 16-17. The tournament was held at Inje Multipurpose Gymnasium A/B Court, Inje Indoor Gymnasium, and Nammyeon Gymnasium.

On the 17th, Inje-gun was hit by strong cold temperatures of over minus 10 degrees and strong snow flurries. 스포츠토토 Despite the bad weather, the youth players’ passion for basketball was not easily dampened.

The youth basketball festival attracted 107 teams from across the country in nine categories, ranging from U8 to U18. The tournament was organized and hosted by the Korea Basketball Association, sponsored by Inje County, Inje County Council, Inje County Sports Association, IS Dongseo, and KB Bank, and supported by Prospex, Molten Korea, and Wise by Om.

The winning teams (MVPs) were U8 Asan Samsung (Jang Seo-woo), U9 Skill Factory (Chu On-yu), U10 Skill Factory (Choi Siwon), U11 Mobis (Yoon Ji-min), U12 Gangnam Samsung (Cha Eun-hoo), U13 Team Six (Kim Da-an), U14 ATB (Kim Dong-wook), U15 Top Peak Basketball Class (Cho Jae-gyun), and U18 Asan Samsung (Cho Hyun-jin). Asan Samsung and Skill Factory tied for second place.

The division into categories allowed more teams and players to participate in the competition and enjoy the basketball festival.

An official from the Korea Basketball Association said, “The division into categories has been well established. When there weren’t many teams participating, the tournament was divided into elementary, high school, middle school, and secondary divisions. At that time, there weren’t many opportunities for players in the lower grades to play,” he said, adding, “By dividing the tournament into grades, more players were given opportunities.”

The entire tournament was also streamed live on the KBA‘s YouTube channel.

“They were able to rewatch their own games, watch youth players analyze their opponents’ games, and provide parents who couldn’t make it to the tournament to see their children play live,” said an official from the KBA.

“The next Winter National Youth Basketball Championship is scheduled for January 2024. It will be held January 25-28 in Jecheon. There will also be a summer tournament.” “We are planning to expand the base through the youth basketball tournament and integrate basketball with professional and daily physical education.”

The National Youth Basketball Tournament has become a place for players of the same age to meet, exchange and unite. The National Youth Basketball Tournament will continue in 2024.