The Pac-12 unveiled a new, exciting project this year to provide special reporting to fans in China for the 2018 Men’s Basketball Tournament. Arizona State University student Chenxi Zhao was appointed this year as the first Chinese student reporter, and will be on-site throughout the tournament, providing reporting in Mandarin to Chinese fans on Pac-12 social media accounts in China. Chenxi shares with us what this opportunity means to him and what he expects this week in Las Vegas:

My name is Chenxi Zhao. I am a senior and study Sports and Media Studies and Marketing majors at Arizona State University. I am so excited to announce that I will work as a Chinese student reporter at Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament. I was born and raised in China for 15 years. I came to the U.S. when I was a sophomore in high school in California. I became a huge basketball fan, since I watched Yao played at Houston Rockets in 2004. I love watching basketball games with my friends during the weekends. I am a big fan of Jeremy Lin because he is the first Asian American in NBA and a faithful Christian. I also practice with ASU Women Basketball team for three years. Our team won the Pac-12 conference co-championship in 2016. I also am involved in Camp Carey, Final Four, Undergraduate Student Government at ASU, Mr. Asia at ASU, and Business Residential Community. I enjoy playing basketball and following my passion on sports.

It is a great opportunity for me to develop my passion in the international sports industry. I will take over the Pac-12 social media platform, Sina Weibo, and continue to update from the courtside for Pac-12 fans from China. I have always wanted to build the bridge between China and U.S. sports because I want to create connections between countries in the area of sports. This opportunity is very important to me because I have a passion to inspire students from different countries to pursue their dreams.