STORY: Malian basketball player eyes opportunities in China's Dongguan
DATELINE: Aug. 21, 2023
LENGTH: 00:01:28
LOCATION: DONGGUAN, China
CATEGORY: SPORTS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of basketball training
2. SOUNDBITE (English): BALLO ALI, Basketball trainer in China's Dongguan

STORYLINE:

Malian basketball player Ballo Ali came to China to learn the Chinese language, Chinese culture, and e-commerce. Now as a basketball trainer in China's Dongguan City, Ali hopes to share his knowledge with the young generation.

SOUNDBITE (English): BALLO ALI, Basketball trainer in China's Dongguan
"Hello, everyone. My name is Ali. Ali from Mali. Before coming to China, I was a basketball player. At a young age, I started learning Chinese culture. I went to high school to learn Chinese culture and the Chinese language. Then I had an opportunity to come to China in 2013. And I have seen a lot of beautiful places and I have seen a lot of beautiful things about China. Then I came back to my country. I made a decision to come back to China to learn Chinese culture. I've also seen there are a lot of opportunities in the e-commerce area, then I decided to learn e-commerce. When I was learning, I was a (basketball) player also. I used to play in the city and look for opportunities also to share my basketball experience with the community.
Now I came to Dongguan as a basketball trainer. About Dongguan kids, I'm so surprised because you can literally see five-year-old, six-year-old Dongguan kids, they can use basketball to do everything. Not only cross-cross, relay, but they can really play as a grown man. So even to be able to take them, to be able to share all of my experience with them, I feel like that's something amazing.
China is a great country and basketball is a popular sport. I want everybody like a coach, or like a player to have a platform to be able to exchange with the Chinese people, especially the young generation because they need a type of professional coaching style and a new basketball model that we know in foreign countries."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Dongguan, China.
(XHTV)