Common Talk Weeklyshuang yu zhou kan
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Team Dell finish first
December 24, 2003
By Angela Lehmann
Photos by Yao Fan

Ralph Olney, from the U.S.A., scored five points for Kodak during Saturday's final

The 2003 Autumn Season of the Xiamen Friendship Basketball League (XFBL) came to a close last weekend with Dell winning the competition for the third season in a row.

The final, between Kodak Xiamen Ltd. (KXL) and Dell was anticipated to be a close game between the two strongest teams in the competition. In the first game of the round robin（循环赛）, the Kodak KXL team had beaten Dell. Nevertheless, on the night of the final, Dell were stronger and won the game 112 - 56.

The Dell team organiser, William Wu, said the team was ecstatic（兴奋） with their win. “We were hoping to win again but Kodak KXL are our biggest competitor. We don’t have the chance to train much, just in our spare time and we don’t have a coach so we are really happy to have won!”

William said that even though the team doesn’t formally train, he believes that there is a work ethos（信条） at Dell that helps the team on the court. “At Dell we believe we can win at everything,” he said.

The Kodak KXL team were a new team in the competition and are now looking towards beating their rival in the next season. Ralph Olney, Managing Director of Kodak Xiamen (KXL), from the United States scored five points during the final. “Since we joined the competition the staff at Kodak have become even more interested in basketball,” he said. Mr Olney, an avid（热心的） basketball fan, built a court at the offices so his staff could get out and play in their breaks at work.

Ralph’s wife, Beverly, has been following the competition since it began over five weeks ago. “The team were very happy to have made it this far. We all went out and celebrated making it to the final. We are going to keep playing and definitely try for the championship next season,” she said.

The XFBL was established last year for the purposes of extending friendship between local and foreign enterprises, and for the Xiamen International School to reach into the greater Xiamen community as a center of activity.

The basketball league was initially comprised of Kodak (China) Co.Ltd., Dell, Coca Cola, Xiamen University Overseas Education College, Xiaman Yingcai School and Xiamen International School. All games took place at the new Xiamen International School's gymnasium, known as one of the best gymnasiums in Xiamen.

After two successful seasons last sutumn and this spring, the league is improving and extending and is having more of an impact in Xiamen.

XFBL秋季联赛落下帷幕

The XFBL was played at the state-of-the-art stadium at the Xiamen International School

2003年厦门友谊篮球赛（XFBL）秋季联赛上周末落下帷幕。经过5周的激烈鏖战，戴尔（中国）计算机有限公司队获得冠军，柯达（厦门）有限公司 队获得亚军，厦门国际学校获得季军。XFBL是为了促进外企和本土公司友谊，及推动厦门国际学校成为更广大的厦门社区活动中心而于去年成立的。

所有的比赛都在厦门国际学校新建篮球馆举行。该馆作为厦门最好的室内专用篮球馆之一，拥有巨大的电子记分显示屏并启用了两个大型落地式24秒计时器，使比 赛更加正规。联赛目前已经增加了ABB开关有限公司、PCX－N.A.电脑公司和柯达（厦门）有限公司并有望在下个赛季拥有麦当劳厦门公司和厦门第十中学 参赛。

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