In the third game of the WCBA finals held not long ago, Sichuan women’s basketball beat Inner Mongolia Women’s basketball with 83-82 points at home, winning the WCBA championship for the first time with a total score of 2-1. However, Inner Mongolia Women’s Basketball unfortunately failed to realize the dream of three successive championships and passed the championship trophy.
However, the football fans were quite satisfied with the record of winning the finals for three consecutive years and winning the championship twice.
Although he missed three successive championships, as the chairman of the Inner Mongolia Basketball Association, China’s famous basketball star and the first domestic winner of the NBA Championship ring Bartel, but unexpectedly, I waited for a trophy that had been away from myself for 28 years.
The origin of the story is this–
In 1986, Bartel, a teenager, left his hometown Erdos city in Inner Mongolia autonomous region for Hanggin banner and entered Beijing men’s basketball. However, Bartel, who was new here, had no relatives and friends around him, so he ran out several times and let the coaches in the team look for it. At this time, Meng Wei, a reporter from the sports channel of Beijing TV Station, became an important friend in Battel’s life.
Meng Wei said: “The deep friendship with Bartel stems from a trust from Ma Jiawan, the head coach of Beijing team,-because he was worried that Bartel was lonely in Beijing, when he was interviewed by the team, coach Ma’s coach said to me: you should be a big brother and help me take care of Bartel on weekends.”
In this way, Meng Wei went off the team to interview on weekdays. On weekends, Bartel would come to their house. Everyone had dinner together and spent the weekend happily, which not only greatly relieved Bartel’s loneliness, moreover, Bartel and Meng Wei formed a brotherhood.
In 1995, that is, the first year of CBA, the eighth final competition was held from February 5th to April 9th, with a total of August 1st, Beijing, Liaoning, Jinan Military Region, avant-garde, Nanjing Military Region, Guangzhou Military Region, eight teams from Jilin participated. Bartel was crowned rebounder of the season with 12.4 rebounds per game and was awarded a particularly exquisite cloisonne trophy.
However, before long, Meng Wei came to Bartel’s dormitory after the interview, only to find that the trophy placed at the bedside of Bartel was covered with dust, and there were even several cigarette butts in the trophy. Looking at the trophy full of dust and ash, Meng Wei, as his elder brother, seriously criticized Bartel and said, “This is your honor. You should treasure it well. How can you spoil it like this?” At this time, Bartel was also like a child who did something wrong. He stared at the dusty trophy with two eyes and thought for a long time before he said to Meng Wei, “Brother, there is no place to put it. Otherwise, you take the trophy to your home first and put it away for me, and give it to me when you see it is suitable.”
Meng Wei looked around and looked at the dormitory where the place was not large. It was indeed impossible to find a place where these two trophies could be placed. Therefore, Meng Wei promised Bartel to keep the trophy for him first. In this way, a basketball star, a media reporter and two good brothers have a promise without words.
More than 20 years have passed. During this period, Bartel played games on behalf of the club team and the national team. Meng Wei was also busy in his own job. Although the two still met many times, no one mentioned this matter again, it seems to be “forgotten. In fact, despite moving and decorating the house for so many years, Meng Wei will carefully hold the “rebounder” trophy every time he sees it, the trophy will be wiped spotlessly with towels from time to time-Meng Wei is waiting for the opportunity to return the trophy.
On October 28, 2018, the First Plenary Congress of Inner Mongolia autonomous region Basketball Association was held in Hohhot, and Battel was elected as the chairman of Inner Mongolia Basketball Association. Seeing that good brothers can make great achievements on the new stage of life, Meng Wei also expressed congratulations to Batel: “The burden of basketball in Inner Mongolia autonomous region is on your shoulders, and you have to carry it on your big and wide shoulders, I wish you all the best.” Bartel also firmly said: “Brother, I must do a good job, do a good job, try not to let you down, nor let our inner Mongolia fans down.”
For more than four years, Meng Wei has also been paying attention to his good brother. He said: “Over the past few years, I have seen the changes of Bartel. From the feeling that I had not found a job at the beginning of being elected as the chairman of the Basketball Association, to now, I have been strategizing. For all aspects of things, bartel has handled it well, which is completely different from the original one. Especially in the last three seasons, Inner Mongolia Women’s basketball has won the finals for three consecutive seasons and won two championships, which makes people see the great achievements of Inner Mongolia basketball under the leadership of Bartel, and Bartel himself has gradually matured in these years of experience.”
Just because he witnessed all this, Meng Wei felt that the waiting time had finally come.
On March 2 this year, before the WCBA finals, in the reception room of Sheraton Hotel in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, Meng Wei, who had retired, took that statue with a sense of age, the very delicate trophy was handed over to Batel, the chairman of Inner Mongolia Basketball Association, who had been away from it for 28 years. People present recorded this moment with their mobile phones one after another. Meng Wei said emotionally, “Bartel, everyone present here is also a witness, I came by high-speed rail from Beijing today to fulfill my promise-this 28-year-old CBA start season, the ‘rebounder trophy ‘of the CBA top eight, was handed over to you today. Hands, it is the first ‘rebounder’ trophy in the history of Chinese basketball CBA and the first trophy in your career. I hope you can also treasure this honor that belongs to you.”
At this moment, the handover of this trophy also enabled Meng Wei to fulfill the promise between him and the Battle Brothers.
(Text/Beijing radio and television news reporter Li Xiongfeng)