Lunar NYC Inc., also known as Lunar New Year Celebration™, also known as LunarNYC, recently held its First Annual Asian Men’s Heritage Basketball Tournament on April 6th and 7th, 2019 at Basketball City on Pier 36 in New York City. The tournament featured 18 teams from across the country who came to New York City for a shot at the largest educational award in North American Asian Hoops history. Teams competed head-to-head in 18-minute-half games at the “state-of-the-art” basketball facility.

On Saturday April 6th, 18 teams battled one another in preliminaries and showed that teams came to play with several games going into overtime and even double overtime. The top four teams in the Friendship division and the top 2 in Elite division clinched their playoff spots, while the remaining teams had to fight not to get eliminated.

After two whole days of head-to-head games at the “state-of-the-art” basketball facility, two teams arose victoriously. Soormay from Queens, New York climbed their way from the 7th seed preliminaries in the Friendship division to winning the 2^nd largest educational prize of $8,000 in North American Asian Hoops history. The District, hailing from D.C. & Virginia, battled its way through the Elite division and won the record-setting $12,000 educational award or largest in North American Asian Hoops history.

“I built LunarNYC from a dream, to help others, especially in the Asian Community. To unite those who love Asian Culture under one global brand and to provide a platform where east can really meet west. I grew up playing in the Asian Hoops circuit and I created the ideal basketball tournament of my dreams. We treat the Asian Community with the highest level of respect and we showed it over that weekend. Again for my team to pull off this off in just 3months, to now having the amazing feedback from players, its makes me more determined now to make this the largest Asian Basketball Tournament in North America, maybe even the world,” stated LunarNYC’s founder and CEO, Jiang Yu.

LunarNYC would like to thank all the participants and attendees who came to its First Annual Asian Men’s Heritage Basketball Tournament. LunarNYC would also like to thank the sponsors and the Lunar team staff that helped with the organization of the tournament. LunarNYC looks forward to hosting more tournaments in the near future for a variety of sports.

Teams participating in the Elite Division:

• LunarNYC, New York City, NY
• NYK Spartans, New York City, NY
• Asianballers, Atlanta, GA
• District, Virginia, VA
• Top Gunz, New York City, NY
• Rise Hoops, New York City, NY

Teams participating in the Friendship Division:

• NYC Falcons, New York City, NY
• Nu Alpha Phi, New York and New Jersey
• Rutgers, New Jersey and Long Island
• DFW, Dallas Fort Worth, TX
• NYC Hustlers, New York and New Jersey
• Thunder, New York and New Jersey
• Panthers, New York and New Jersey
• Sun Rays Driving School, New York City, NY
• Showcase NYC, New York City, NY
• Squad Up, New York City, NY
• CAM Basketball, Lowell, MA
• Soormay, New York, New Jersey and Boston

The event was sponsored by companies located all over the world and from various industry sectors such as Investment Banking, Media, Real Estate, CBD, Venture Capital and Private Equity. These generous contributions help to provide a spotlight on the growing deep cultural ties between basketball and Asian culture.

LunarNYC Proudly Thanks Our Sponsors for Making History in the Asian Community:

• Gear Capital Partners
• Boustead Securities, LLC
• Financial Buzz Media Networks
• ChineseInvestors.com, Inc
• SBT Advantage Bank
• SS Investment Group
• Chinese American Real Estate Association
• Blue Ocean Property Group
• Financial Ventures Group
• ChineseHempOil.com
• Jag SanDeep Family Office

Teams were quick to praise LunarNYC’s tournament, as the players lauded the high level of competition in addition to the exceptional organization of the event. Here are some words directly from the participants:

“I want to thank Jiang and LunarNYC for starting a great tradition for Asian Basketball and the Asian American community. The tournament venue was excellent, great atmosphere, and excellent location near the pier. The organization of the tournament and media coverage was two thumbs up! We look forward to big things in the future from the Lunar Group. Great work!” – Bo Nyoung (Team Asianballers)

“Thank you to Lunar NYC for a very well organized tournament. The level of competition was very high and it spread across a wide range of Asian ethnicities. As a basketball junkie, it was dope to see so many Asian ballers. Can’t wait for the next one!” – JC Albano (Team RiseHoops)

“A terrific, well executed tournament bringing in competitive teams from all over the country and hosted at arguably one of the top basketball facilities available. As a team, we have participated in numerous Asian American basketball tournaments and believe LunarNYc Group’s Asian Heritage Tournament to be of the highest echelon and quite possibly today’s best Asian American basketball tournament in the nation.” – Leuis Ng (Team Thunder)

“We had a great time against good competitive teams and exceptional referees. Positive basketball atmosphere where everybody got better.” – Jeff (Team Falcons)

“We’re very thankful for the opportunity to represent the Filipino-American community in the 1st Asian Heritage Tournament hosted by Lunar NYC. The competition, venue, & overall experience was ELITE. It was great to see old faces & meet new friends in the growing Asian basketball brotherhood. Looking forward to future Lunar events to unite & empower the next generation.” – Banjo Albano (Team RiseHoops)

“Thank you Lunarnyc for the opportunity and letting us compete in this great tournament. Good job by the whole team, everyone enjoyed it!” – Mandeep (Team Panthers)

“We couldn’t be any happier… not just with the results but with the competition. Thanks to and for everyone, it was one hell of a tournament!” – Captain Ditar (Team Soormay)

“I would like to say Thank You Lunar NYC for bringing back “the spirit, passion, and competition” of Asian Basketball once again in the United States. We will continue our support to Lunar NYC and our Asian community. We are looking forward on the next event.” – Augustine (Team Top Gunz)

“Asian Basketball needed this, we needed a tournament where teams would come together, practice with a purpose, be excited and engaged with the prizes and coverage, top notch facility and referees and rules. This was truly a player’s tournament and everyone had fun competing. Our LunarNyc players have played all over the country and this is the most diverse Asian tournament ever. Players and teams cannot wait for the next LunarNyc event!” – Wilson Lew (Team LunarNYC)

“Fun organized tournament with a lot of great competition from asian teams from all over the US. Showcase NYC will definitely be back every year to compete.” – Ian Yu (Team Showcasenyc)

“The tourney was a great experience for our young guys to see what we have to work on to come back stronger. thanks to the lunar and the staff on making the tourney run smoothly.” – Dominic Dar (Team Camball)

View original Press Release here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lunar-new-year-celebration-lunarnyc-made-history-in-the-asian-community-and-receives-outstanding-testimonials-from-participating-teams-in-its-1st-annual-asian-heritage-mens-basketball-tournament-300832000.html