The competition system at the National Games was very complicated and varied for different events.
For example, the preliminaries for basketball would be held four to five months in advance and would be held in several locations. The participating teams had to participate in round-robin matches in each location. The top two teams of a competition would be promoted to the final round, while the third and fourth place of the competition competed for another place in the final round through a play-off. In August, the teams who had entered the final round would compete for the gold medal.
In this competition system, in case several powerful teams were assigned to one location, the preliminaries would be very fierce; in case all the weak teams were assigned to one location, the preliminaries would be held between the weaklings. Because of this, a circumstance where powerful teams were knocked out while weak teams entered the final round was always possible.
