Sport in China Defeats of the national team to Republic of China, Japan, and South Korea may help change the trend as Chinese become more aware of the game's internationalization. American football leagues such as the American Football League of China and the China Arena Football League have been launched in recent years. China will host the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. The game was introduced to China by American YMCA workers in 1896, just five years after Canadian-American James Naismith invented basketball in 1891 while working for the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. Since Yao Ming's 2002 arrival in the NBA,
Steven Naismith by McCann. Naismith scored Rangers first goal against Hearts in October 2011, and Rangers went on to win the game 2–0. During the 2011–12 season, Naismith began a goalscoring celebration where he crosses his arms in front of his body. This was later revealed by a family friend to mean that he is sending a kiss to his girlfriend when doing so. On 29 October, Naismith injured himself after attempting to tackle Aberdeen's Rob Milsom. A scan later confirmed that he had damaged his cruciate ligament and would be out of action for around nine months, ending his season. In