A new chapter in youth sports integration was unveiled on Thursday, as the first "Competing for the Future" Yangtze River Delta Youth Basketball League was announced at a news conference in Shanghai.

Jointly organized by the sports bureaus of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces, this innovative league aims to boost regional youth sports collaboration through a rotating hosting model across the four regions.

Officials from the youth sports departments of the four regions jointly unveiled the league's emblem and slogan and showcased the tournament's custom-designed jerseys at the news conference.

The league will feature over 80 matches. Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui will each send two men's teams and two women's teams, totaling 16 U17 teams with nearly 300 talented young athletes participating.

Kicking off on March 28 in Shanghai, the tournament will move to Hangzhou, Zhejiang province in April, Changzhou, Jiangsu province in June, and Hefei, Anhui province in September, culminating in the semi-finals in Shanghai in October.

According to Song Hui, deputy director of the Shanghai Administration of Sports, the tournament aims to accelerate the cultivation of high-quality youth basketball talent, promote the spread of basketball culture, and contribute to the development of youth basketball in China by harnessing the power of the Yangtze River Delta region.

The event will also feature a youth sports development seminar and a parent engagement program during the finals, along with a sports consumption fair to enhance the spectator experience and boost local economies.