Village arena a beacon for basketball fans

Whenever there is a Lizhi Basketball Club game, the arena in Zhonghe village in Guyuan city, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, is filled to capacity with cheering fans.

Besides being home to the club, the arena also hosts Village Basketball Association games and is one of the main venues for the farmers' basketball invitational tournaments, in which teams from Ningxia and the provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu compete.

While helping to popularize basketball in the village, located in the city's Yuanzhou district, the facility has also become a place where Zhonghe residents and people from neighboring villages can come to relax and exercise, stoking locals' passion for fitness and sports.

Inside, the arena has a 1,700-square-meter standard basketball court, with 12 rows of bleacher seats on all four sides. It also features a table-tennis area, badminton courts, billiards, chess and card rooms, children's entertainment facilities and tea houses. People can enjoy the activities free of charge.

The outdoor venues include a basketball court, plastic running tracks and approximately 500 square meters of ancillary facilities of canteens and dormitories for students training with the Lizhi club.