Download Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant took on the king of Chinese hip-hop over the weekend in Shanghai. Bryant met Jay Chou in the "Express your true self" basketball and music festival on Saturday, a benefit program organized by Sprite. Bryant's Uncontainable Yellow team defeated Chou's Refreshing Green team, 107-82. This year's event also extended an invitation for local fans to participate and a chance to play alongside Chou and Bryant. "With all the celebrities, entertainers and so forth, we didn't really know what to expect from the game," Bryant told reporters at halftime. "And being that this is the second time, everybody has had a year to train and practice and come back as much better players. That's pretty cool." The show began with a performance by the NBA Secret Service Dunkers, a trick team. The audience erupted when Chou emerged with a basketball in hand while Bryant clutched a guitar. Bryant wowed the crowd with a series of impressive plays, though Chou held his own. The event raised more than 2.6 million yuan ($408,900), which will go toward the building and improvement of sports and basketball facilities at the Project Hope schools in China's underprivileged regions. Last year's 2.2 million yuan went toward building basketball courts in 32 schools and sponsoring sports equipment in 30 schools. Fresh off his Olympic gold medal, Bryant took part in commercial activities in a number of Chinese cities over the past week. |