On 10 October, Acting Consul General Xu Haiyuan was invited to attend and address the opening ceremony of the Christchurch Junior Basketball Tournament. Candy Zhang, Senior Advisor at the New Zealand Ministry for Ethnic Communities, Amy King, representative of the Canterbury Branch of the New Zealand Chinese Association, together with more than 200 local young players and parents were present at the event.

The league is co-hosted by Ark Basketball Club and Firebird Basketball Club.

Following the opening ceremony, Acting Consul General Xu performed the tip-off for the first match.