Aramco Unveils Recycled Basketball Courts, Boosting "Shoot for the Future" Project

BEIJING--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 28, 2024--

Aramco, one of the world’s leading integrated energy and chemicals companies, has unveiled the first three renovated community basketball courts on Tuesday in Dongdan basketball community, Beijing, China.

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These courts, which were built with innovative and advanced materials, with the flooring made partly from recycled plastic, are part of Aramco’s “Shoot for the Future” basketball court revamp project, with the goal of injecting new energy into community basketball in China.

The project also aims to showcase the increasingly important role that advanced materials can play in a circular carbon economy, while helping with Aramco’s objective to support and empower communities and youth through sports, and to bring green development and recycling technology to a new height as well.

Nader Al-Arfaj, Managing Director in China of Aramco Asia, said that these courts not only tell an inspiring story about how Aramco aims to empower communities and individuals through sports, but also showcase Aramco's leadership in innovation, highlighting how we can use advanced materials to shape a better future.

“I think the significance of our cooperation is quite profound,” Jian Jiang, General Manager of CBA Company, the Chinese Basketball League operation unit, said. “The project carries many meanings behind it, such as its high-tech content, innovation, social responsibility, circular economy, and many other modern concepts. In fact, this project has inspired fans a lot.”

Xiaochuan Zhai, a top Chinese basketball player, said the floor has more mesh like holes, “So, water drains away quickly after rain, which makes it better than the previous kind of floors.”

Hansen Yang, a talented young Chinese player said, “The court's color is very bright, and its rebound and anti-slip effects are quite good, so it's more comfortable to play on it.”

To bring this project to life, Aramco has worked closely with its chemical arm SABIC, and Enlio, the exclusive supplier for 3X3 basketball floors for the Tokyo and Paris Olympics. “Central to these courts is a professional-standard flooring which uses recycled materials,” Al-Arfaj added.

Aramco stressed it will continue working with partners to achieve the ambition of building courts across the country.

Al-Arfaj said, “I think we will all find these courts exceptionally impressive, and we look forward to seeing the community enjoy these courts for years to come.”

Aramco has unveiled the first three renovated community basketball courts on Tuesday in Beijing, China. (Photo: Business Wire)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Silvia Pinal, an actress from Mexico’s Golden Age of cinema in the 1940s and 50s, has died. She was 93.

Over her 60-year career, Pinal appeared in movies with Mexican comics like Cantinflas and Tin Tan, heartthrobs like Pedro Infante, and starred in Luis Buñuel’s 1961 film “Viridiana.” Pinal went on to appear in two other Buñuel films, “The Exterminating Angel” in 1962, and “Simon of the Desert” in 1965.

She was one of the few Golden Age actresses who also adapted to a subsequent career in television, after the quality of Mexican film began tapering off in the 1960s. She also worked as a producer, and served in Congress.

Earlier this month, her family said she had been hospitalized for a urinary tract infection. Her death was confirmed by Mexico’s Culture Secretary, Claudia Curiel de Icaza.

“Her legacy as an artist and her contributions to our culture are unforgettable. Rest in peace," Curiel de Icaza wrote in her social media accounts.

She is survived by her ex-husband, Enrique Guzmán, and her daughters, actress Sylvia Pasquel and rock singer Alejandra Guzmán.

Funeral plans were not immediately announced.

FILE - Silvia Pinal smiles during a tribute to her acting career, at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City, on Aug. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

FILE - Mexican actress Silvia Pinal smile during the presentation the her book "Esta Soy Yo," or This is me, at the Palacio de Mineria International Book Fair in Mexico City, on Feb. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)