VOA文化艺术2022 非洲篮球联赛第二季开赛

Basketball Africa League Opens Second Season

The second season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) started last weekend in Dakar, Senegal.

Twelve teams will compete this season for the BAL title. Last year, Egypt's Zamalek won the championship.

The league was supposed to start in 2020, but was delayed a year by the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the season took place over two weeks in Kigali, Rwanda. This year, the schedule runs over three months and 38 games. They will be played in Dakar, Kigali and Cairo, Egypt.

The BAL is supported by America's National Basketball Association¹ (NBA) and FIBA, basketball's international governing body. It is the first time the NBA has put money into a league outside of North America.

Victor Williams is NBA Africa's president. At an event in Lagos, Nigeria, in February, he said the league is evidence of the NBA's interest in "growing the game across the continent."

Sam Ahmedu is the president of FIBA Africa Zone 3, which includes Nigeria, Africa's most populous² nation.

He said the expanded number of games will permit more people to see games in person.

"It will help to popularize the game and attract more sponsorship," he said.

A sponsor³ is a well-known company that supports a sports organization with money.

Beyond sponsorships from Nike and Pepsi, the league also has the support of former United States president Barack Obama who is working to help promote NBA Africa. The league announced in 2021 that Obama received part ownership⁴ of NBA Africa in return for his work. Obama said any money he receives will go to his foundation's programs in Africa.

Dikembe Mutombo is a former NBA player from the Democratic⁵ Republic of Congo. He invested⁶ money to help start the league.

Basketball's African future

Soccer is the most popular sport in Africa, but with a number of NBA players who are either from Africa or have an African parent, the sport of basketball is growing fast.

There are about 50 NBA players with African roots. The most famous are Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks⁷, Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers and Pascal Siakam of the Toronto Raptors. The league is hoping to help little-known players improve their game and get attention. Last season, 15 scouts⁹ watched the league.

This year, each BAL team will have a young player from the NBA Academy¹⁰ Africa, a training center in Saly, Senegal, for teenage players.

The program will provide another pathway for good African players "to reach their potential as players and people," said Amadou Gallo Fall. He is the BAL president.

One team leader, however, believes athletes should not only play to try to make the NBA, but to make the BAL a great league.

"I believe the BAL will grow as big as the NBA and bigger," said Relton Booysen, coach of the Cape¹¹ Town Tigers, a new team in the BAL.

Regardless of whether the BAL becomes successful throughout Africa, one observer¹² believes the new league will serve as a form of cultural exchange.

Scott Brooks¹³ is associate director of Arizona State University's Global Sport Institute. He said when an American sport like basketball becomes more visible¹⁴ in a foreign country, it affects both cultures.

"It's not just American culture taking over. We always get a piece of other cultures coming back," he said. "That's what really makes this exciting."

Brooks said something like the BAL is more than basketball. "It is building leaders in Africa," he said.

Those interested in following the BAL can hear VOA's broadcasts of the games on the radio in Africa. VOA will cover the games in English, French, Portuguese¹⁵ and two African languages: Kinyarwanda and Wolof.

Video of the games will be on the internet at TheBAL.com and NBA.com.

Words in This Story

title – n. the position of being champion in a sport

promote– v. to make people aware of something, such as a new product

scout⁸ – n. a person whose job it is to look for talented performers

teenage – adj. between 13 and 19 years old

potential – n. a quality that something has that can be developed to make it better

global – adj. involving the entire world

1 association   

n.联盟，协会，社团；交往，联合；联想

参考例句：

• Our long association with your company has brought great benefits.我方和贵公司的长期合作带来了巨大的利益。
• I broke away from the association ten years ago.我10年前就脱离了那个团体。

2 populous   

adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的

参考例句：

• London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
• China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。

3 sponsor   

vt.发起，主办；资助；n.发起者，资助人

参考例句：

• Sponsor stated they have no idea where he is.赞助方表示他们不知道他在哪儿。
• The sponsor has permanent ad on the website commonly.赞助商一般在网站上有永久性广告。

4 ownership   

n.所有(权)，所有制

参考例句：

• The house is under new ownership.那栋房子已易新主。
• He claimed ownership of the house.他声称那幢房子归他所有。

5 democratic   

adj.民主的；民主主义的，有民主精神的

参考例句：

• Their country has democratic government.他们国家实行民主政体。
• He has a democratic work-style.他作风民主。

6 invested   

v.投资，花费( invest的过去式和过去分词 )；授予；（把资金）投入；投入（时间、精力等）

参考例句：

• The money will be invested in managed funds. 这笔钱将投资于管理基金。
• He invested his lawyer with complete power to act for him. 他让律师全权代办。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 scout   

n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索

参考例句：

• He was mistaken for an enemy scout and badly wounded.他被误认为是敌人的侦察兵，受了重伤。
• The scout made a stealthy approach to the enemy position.侦察兵偷偷地靠近敌军阵地。

9 scouts   

侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员

参考例句：

• to join the Scouts 参加童子军
• The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组，然后开始巡逻这个地区。

10 academy   

n.(高等)专科院校；学术社团，协会，研究院

参考例句：

• This is an academy of music.这是一所音乐专科学院。
• I visited Chinese Academy of Sciences yesterday.我昨天去访问了中国科学院。

11 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

12 observer   

n.观察家，观察的人，观察员

参考例句：

• I can see you're a careful reader as well as a careful observer.我能看出你既是一位细心的读者，又是一位观察者。
• I want to attend the conference only as an observer.本人只作为观察员身份参加会议。

13 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 visible   

adj.看得见的，明显的，显然的；n.可见物

参考例句：

• It is a visible star in the sky.这是一颗在天空中可见的星星。
• The warning lights were clearly visible.警示信号灯清晰可见。

15 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。