The nation's top youth basketball teams gathered in Busan.
HOOPCITY (?g City, CEO Park Seong-jin), Korea's leading basketball specialty store, held the "2026 HOOPCITY National Youth Basketball Tournament sponsored by BNK SUM" on the 28th at Busan Sajik Indoor Gymnasium.
?g City, which has long supported and shown interest in Korean amateur basketball, sponsored the WKBL Busan BNK Sum women's basketball team and co-hosted and organized the tournament with THE GRIT.
A ?g City official said, "We held the tournament to promote youth sports and foster a healthy sports culture while enabling exchanges among the nation's outstanding youth clubs. Based on this, we hope it becomes a foundation for expanding the youth basketball base and discovering talent."
The tournament features 38 teams in total: six U9 teams, eight U10 teams, eight U11 teams, eight U12 teams and eight U15 teams, and will be held over one night and two days with group stages and a knockout tournament. Preliminary and quarterfinal matches will be played in two 10-minute halves (1-minute overtime golden goal), and from the semifinals on matches will be four 7-minute quarters (1-minute overtime for quarters 1–3, 2-minute overtime for the fourth quarter with golden goal).
A tournament official said, "Our goal is to regularize and brand a national tournament linked with ?g City to build a sustainable national youth sports tournament model. We expect the tournament to bring teams and families from other regions to visit Busan, boosting local businesses. Centered on Sajik Indoor Gymnasium, we hope to create community sports tourism content and enhance Busan's image as a sports tourism city."
In the elementary division, zone defense is not permitted and the defender three-second rule applies. Registered professional athletes for 2025 and 2026 are not eligible to participate. Certificates and awards will be given to the champions, runners-up and joint third-place teams, and basketball shoes will be awarded to the MVP.
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