Kobe, Jay Chou ready for karaoke rematch

The Los Angeles Lakers MVP guard, Kobe Bryant (right), shakes hand with a teammate of Asian pop star Jay Chou (second right) before the tip-off of the 2011 Sprite charity exhibition game in the Shanghai on Thursday. Cui Meng / China Daily

SHANGHAI - The Los Angeles Lakers' MVP guard, Kobe Bryant, wants to take on pop star Jay Chou, from Taiwan, after beating him on the basketball court in a TV commercial.

"We shall play one-on-one again, I owe you a rematch," Bryant said after a charity exhibition game, which drew a bunch of Chinese celebrities who showed off their hoop skills at the Shanghai Grand Stage on Thursday.

"I play basketball for a living and Jay sings for a living. Since we did basketball one-on-one before, it is fair to do karaoke next time. But I have to remind you to be careful when I sing. You'd better cover your ears," said Bryant, who came to China on July 15.

In a popular Sprite commercial, 13-time NBA all-star Bryant easily outperformed Chou, one of the leading pop stars in Asia, on an outdoor court with his dunking and blocking.

"You had the advantage on the basketball court. I will be better in the central limelight of the stage. We should compete again," said Chou.

On an exciting evening, Chou's teammates, which included former Chinese national forward Du Feng, clinched a narrow victory over the rival White team by one point. Bryant came on to play the final minute for the White side, but failed to lift his team to victory.

"The star power of this exhibition game is incredible. Jay should be the MVP tonight. He just missed one shot," Bryant said.

Organized by Sprite, all the match's ticket revenue will be donated to the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF) to improve basketball facilities at Project Hope schools in underprivileged areas in China.

At the final stop of the week-long tour, Bryant also attended the Sprite Spark slam dunk contest's national final before the evening show and showed the contestants how to perform some of his iconic moves during a mini-clinic.