This past weekend, NYU Shanghai athletes traveled to Duke Kunshan for the third and final leg of the second annual Sino Foreign Cup, a competition between athletes from NYU Shanghai, Duke Kunshan (DKU), and the University of Nottingham Ningbo (UNNC). The tournament kicked off in Ningbo in October and continued in Shanghai at the end of November. The competition featured nine teams -men’s, women’s, or mixed - each in six sports: badminton, tennis, table tennis, football, volleyball, and basketball.

Each team played against another once per round and would gain two points per victory per sport, counting toward the team’s total score for their respective sport and a score for the university as a whole.

Coming into the final leg of the competition, NYU Shanghai’s 36 points put them in second overall, trailing DKU by 4 points, and leading UNNC by 4 points. After the first two legs of the tournament, NYU Shanghai’s women’s football had already secured the top spot, while men’s volleyball and tennis teams were leading in their respective sports and men’s basketball was in a close second.

Athletes were up bright and early on Saturday morning for the hour-and-a-half commute to Kunshan to make it on time for the opening ceremony of the final leg. This first day of competition was a little rocky for NYU Shanghai as athletes faced fierce competition. Down to the wire, women’s basketball, men’s football, and men’s volleyball fell just a few points shy from victory. Women’s football, women’s volleyball, and table tennis also suffered a defeat on Saturday, but showed up the next day and turned things around, winning their second match. With their eyes on the prize, athletes in men’s basketball and tennis gave it their all on their respective courts, pushing their limits to obtain a double victory and claim the title in their sports

The tournament concluded Sunday afternoon with an award ceremony, during which awards were given to the first-place team in each sport, as well as an overall team cup. Ultimately, NYU Shanghai placed third with 50 points, as UNNC managed to slip ahead by 2 points and DKU held onto their lead to claim the overall title with a final score of 60 points.