Yao Ming is a Chinese basketball player who completed his professional career in 2011. Known for playing for the Houston Rockets and the national team of China. It is popular among the Russian public thanks to the famous meme about the “laughing Chinese.”
Today we’ll take a look at the biography of professional basketball player Yao Ming, popular at home.
Childhood
September 12, 1980 in Shanghai, Yao Ming was born. At birth, the child weighed 5 kg, which was an excess of the norm for children. Yao's parents are professional basketball players. He is the only child in the family. Yao did not have much choice with regard to his future, so from childhood he began to play basketball. Yao Ming's considerable height of 229 cm allowed him to practice basketball on a professional level. From early childhood, parents in every possible way helped the boy in his endeavors. By 10 years, the growth of Yao was 165 cm. After all kinds of medical examinations, doctors predicted that in the future, the growth of Ming would be about 2.2 meters.
By the age of 9, the boy entered a sports school, which allowed Yao to engage in basketball on a professional level.
Professional career
By the age of 16, Yao began playing for the Shanghai Sharks home basketball team. By the age of 21, he and his team had achieved significant success, winning for the first time in the national championship of the country.
After five years at Shanghai Sharks, the young player set off to conquer the NBA. Yao Ming immediately became the first number in the draft, which allowed the young guy to go to the NBA strong basketball club Houston Rockets. Nobody in Asia could boast of similar achievements, so Yao became the third representative of the Celestial Empire in the NBA. After the draft, most experts predicted the young player a failure in the league.
Thanks to the outstanding anthropometry, diligence and perseverance, the young basketball player was able to achieve high success in the center position. Yao Ming's impressive 229 cm growth allowed him to become the tallest player in the National Basketball League. In the first season, Houston took only 9th place in the league, without even getting into the playoff round. However, the weak performance of the team did not affect the performance of Yao. In the first season, the guy won the prize of the best newcomer to the league.
In each season, Yao showed a decent level of his game, but team achievements left much to be desired. The Chinese basketball player was constantly called up as part of the NBA team of stars. Min was also listed five times in the symbolic team of the NBA season.
Much to his disappointment, Yao was constantly exposed to minor injuries and injuries, especially at the end of his professional career. For example, in the 2009-2010 season, a player has never entered the court due to injuries that tormented him. In the same year, Yao was unable to help his native team at the World Championships. The following season, the Chinese basketball player also suffered injuries. After playing several games, Yao ended his professional career at the end of the season.
Yao Ming statistics
During his many years of professional career in the National Basketball League, Yao spent nearly five hundred matches, scored almost 10,000 points and gave almost 800 assists. On average, a basketball player scored 19 points per game, additionally helping the team in defense. Yao has almost 1,000 block shots and 200 interceptions.
The debut in the national team took place in 2000, when Yao made his debut as part of the national team at the Sydney Olympics. At two subsequent Olympics, the basketball player was awarded the honorary title of the standard bearer of his native team. However, as in club-level games, Yao was not able to achieve significant success in the national team, as the whole team performed terribly.
Personal life
Born in a family of athletes, Yao decided to follow in the footsteps of his father and chose a life partner among professional basketball players. Life partner was E Lee, speaking in his native national championship. Often Ye Li was invited under the banner of the PRC national team.
Today, Yao lives in his native country and is the most popular and beloved athlete in China. Not so long ago, a film was made about Yao, and an autobiography was also released, which is popular with Chinese readers. Often you can meet Yao Ming as a commentator at the games of the basketball national championship. When the first basketball team was in crisis due to lack of funding, Yao decided to help and bought out Shanghai Sharks.