Basketball and other sports stars, medical workers, celebrities as well as local children contributed to a memorable charity basketball game on Sunday night in Wuhan to together boost the city's confidence in the post-pandemic era. 

More than 7,500 cheered the players on at the stadium - a rare scene as most sports leagues in the country still limit the audience to a moderate amount. 

First played in 2007, the charity basketball game was led by the country's iconic basketball legend Yao Ming's YAO Foundation and was aimed at promoting the development of physical education in China's rural regions as well as reuniting society through sport. 

This year, it set out with a more important mission as it was deliberately staged in Wuhan to pass on the "spirit of sports" and inject energy and passion into the city and local people. 

Medical staff who worked on the frontline fighting the coronavirus were part of the lineup and a special ceremony was held before the game to pay tribute to the heroes who fought COVID-19. 

Celebrities such as China's first Winter Olympics gold medalist Yang Yang, renowned news commentator Bai Yansong, actor and philanthropist Pu Cunxin attended the event to leverage their influence and show their support to the cause. 

The Yao Foundation Charity Game originated from a post-game talk Yao Ming had with former NBA guard Steve Nash, with Nash proposing charity games as a way to raise funds for China's various youth charities. 

Ten of these games have been held since the first in 2007. 

"You feel the sense of achievement when each year's Charity Game successfully concludes," said Yao Ming. 

"As it goes however, I realized that it transformed into some responsibilities and something you can't live without."

In 2012, the Yao Foundation Hope Primary School Basketball Season, a project aimed at providing more teenagers in underprivileged regions with the opportunities and resources to play basketball was launched. 

As of 2019, the foundation had sent out 2,240 volunteers, and almost 1.15 million schoolchildren in rural areas have benefited from the program.

The focus on prioritizing children's physical education and development through sports also got passed on to the charity game as, starting in 2013, a special third quarter was designated to feature children players from primary schools. 

Zhang Jiacheng, the remarkable one-armed teenage basketballer, joined other primary school kids in the Sunday's game and took the event to a climax with his impressive basketball skills. 

In the end, the Chinese Star Team led by the Chinese national basketball head coach Du Feng overcame the special team comprised of medical staff together with foreign players and entertainment stars 122-107. 

(Cover image: China's basketball national team player Kyranbek Makan celebrates after scoring during the Yao Foundation charity game in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, October 4, 2020. /VCG