'Moving Great Wall': China unleash towering teen basketball star
BEIJING: China look set to unleash their 2.26m (7ft 5in) "moving Great Wall" at the Women's Asia Cup after teenager Zhang Ziyu put in another towering display days after her debut.
The 18-year-old centre scored 18 points as China beat great rivals Japan 101-92 on Wednesday in Xi'an in a warm-up for the regional tournament next month on home soil.
It was her third appearance for the senior Chinese squad, having helped them to blowout victories over Bosnia and Herzegovina over the weekend.
Chinese state media dubbed her and gangly centre Han Xu the "Twin Towers."
Zhang's looming presence on court – footage showed her barely needing to jump to make a basket – seemed to stump Japan head coach Corey Gaines.
Asked if he had figured out a way "to deal" with the teenager, the American ex-NBA guard told reporters: "We'll just say: Interesting. Very interesting."
Zhang hails from northern China's Shandong province and had reached 2.10m by the end of primary school.
She has been likened by Chinese fans to Houston Rockets great Yao Ming.
Yao, who at 2.29m was one of the tallest NBA players in history, was known as the "moving Great Wall" before retiring from basketball in 2011 and Zhang has now taken on the nickname.
Both of Zhang's parents played professional basketball.
Her father, Zhang Lei, turned out for the Chinese Basketball Association's Jinan Military Region while her mother Yu Ying played as a centre for Shandong, according to local media.
The teenager may have a distinct height advantage but she has been told she needs to sharpen up.
Experienced centre Yang Liwei said after Wednesday's win that Zhang "could have been tougher on some shots."
"I think she played at her normal level," added Yang, who helped China win the Asian title in 2023.
China meet Japan again tomorrow at home for another warm-up.
Both will play at the Women's Asia Cup in Shenzhen from July 13. - AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Tennis-Draper reaches Queen's semis, seals top-four seeding at Wimbledon
Tennis - Queen's Club Championships - Queen's Club, London, Britain - June 20, 2025 Britain's Jack Draper celebrates after winning his quarter final match against Brandon Nakashima of the U.S. Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's Jack Draper continued his Wimbledon build-up by reaching the semi-finals at Queen's Club for the first time with a 6-4 5-7 6-4 defeat of American Brandon Nakashima on Friday. Draper not only kept himself on track for the prestigious ATP 500 title, but also secured the win that guarantees a top-four seeding at Wimbledon where he will be the big home hope. The 23-year-old was fully tested by world number 32 Nakashima and his powerful game began to misfire as he lost the second set on a baking hot day on Andy Murray Arena. But Draper settled back into the groove in the deciding set and broke serve in the seventh game with one of his trademark forehand pile drivers. The left-hander had to save a break point when serving for the match at 5-4 but recovered to seal victory and set up a clash with Czech Jiri Lehecka who had earlier beaten Britain's Jacob Fearnley 7-5 6-2. "It means the world to me to reach the semi-finals here," Draper, bidding to become the first British player to win the title at the prestigious west London club since Murray won it for the fifth time in 2016. While being ranked fourth means Draper will avoid either defending champion Carlos Alcaraz or world number one Jannik Sinner until the semi-finals at Wimbledon, Draper shrugged off the significance of that when asked about it. "I kept getting asked about that by the journalists but I've got to reach the semi-finals first," he said. "But it is an incredible position, I was at Wimbledon last year ranked 40 so to go there as fourth seed is a testament to all the hard work my team has done so very proud of that." Alcaraz was following Draper on to court as he took on Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech in his quarter-final. (Reporting by Martyn HermanEditing by Toby Davis)
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Zverev vomits mid-match, rallies to reach Halle semis
ALEXANDER Zverev's quest for a first grasscourt title took an unexpected turn at the Halle Open on Friday when the German second seed was forced to sprint from court to vomit mid-match before rallying to defeat Italy's Flavio Cobolli 6-4 7-6(8). Second seed Zverev started the match on the front foot by breaking in the first game but as he was serving in the second, he requested a toilet break to throw up and bolted down the tunnel. Once he returned, Zverev struggled with the intensity at first and clearly looked unwell, bending over in exhaustion after points and gasping for breath after a marathon rally. 'I felt fine before the match. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I felt really, really bad. I felt ill, went to throw up and then 15 minutes later I felt OK again,' Zverev said. 'I don't know what it was, I've never experienced that before. I hope I'll be fine in the next couple of hours when the adrenaline settles. After that I think it was a pretty good match.' Although nowhere near 100%, Zverev held serve as he slowly drew on his reserves of energy, firing his first ace of the match on set point. The second set was an even contest as Cobolli relied on his movement to continue troubling Zverev, but the German eventually triumphed in a close tiebreak, finishing the match with 22 winners and 12 points at the net. The semi-final pits Zverev against Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev, a familiar foe who holds a 12-7 head-to-head advantage and has won their last three meetings. 'I think he's the guy that I played the most in my career. I'm looking forward to it,' Zverev added. 'A lot of things happened in the last 18 months. He's one of my toughest opponents in my career. It's going to be a great match and I'm really looking forward to facing him.' Medvedev moved into the semi-finals with a 6-4 6-3 victory over American Alex Michelsen despite suffering a nosebleed in the second set which forced the 2021 Halle runner-up to take a medical timeout. However, the Russian served well to deny his opponent a single break point opportunity and wrapped up the contest in 85 minutes as he reached the last four without dropping a set, with the only thing causing problems being the shadows on the court. 'The shadows on the court made the conditions quite difficult. It took some time to get used to it. It was then better in the second set,' said Medvedev, who will return to the top 10 ahead of Wimbledon.
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Zverev overcomes stomach bug to set up Halle semi-final with Medvedev
ALEXANDER Zverev's quest for a first grasscourt title took an unexpected turn at the Halle Open on Friday when the German second seed was forced to sprint from court to vomit mid-match before rallying to defeat Italy's Flavio Cobolli 6-4 7-6(8). Second seed Zverev started the match on the front foot by breaking in the first game but as he was serving in the second, he requested a toilet break to throw up and bolted down the tunnel. Once he returned, Zverev struggled with the intensity at first and clearly looked unwell, bending over in exhaustion after points and gasping for breath after a marathon rally. 'I felt fine before the match. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I felt really, really bad. I felt ill, went to throw up and then 15 minutes later I felt OK again,' Zverev said. 'I don't know what it was, I've never experienced that before. I hope I'll be fine in the next couple of hours when the adrenaline settles. After that I think it was a pretty good match.' Although nowhere near 100%, Zverev held serve as he slowly drew on his reserves of energy, firing his first ace of the match on set point. The second set was an even contest as Cobolli relied on his movement to continue troubling Zverev, but the German eventually triumphed in a close tiebreak, finishing the match with 22 winners and 12 points at the net. The semi-final pits Zverev against Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev, a familiar foe who holds a 12-7 head-to-head advantage and has won their last three meetings. 'I think he's the guy that I played the most in my career. I'm looking forward to it,' Zverev added. 'A lot of things happened in the last 18 months. He's one of my toughest opponents in my career. It's going to be a great match and I'm really looking forward to facing him.' Medvedev moved into the semi-finals with a 6-4 6-3 victory over American Alex Michelsen despite suffering a nosebleed in the second set which forced the 2021 Halle runner-up to take a medical timeout. However, the Russian served well to deny his opponent a single break point opportunity and wrapped up the contest in 85 minutes as he reached the last four without dropping a set, with the only thing causing problems being the shadows on the court. 'The shadows on the court made the conditions quite difficult. It took some time to get used to it. It was then better in the second set,' said Medvedev, who will return to the top 10 ahead of Wimbledon.
