‘Moving Great Wall': China unleash towering teen basketball star
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 on Friday at home for another warm-up.
Both will play at the Women's Asia Cup in Shenzhen from July 13.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
34 minutes ago
- The Star
Hope in heartbreak
The wait continues: Rachel Arnold fails to end Malaysia's 10-year wait for the Asian women's squash title. — Bernama
New Straits Times
3 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Minjee Lee grabs four-shot lead at 'brutal' Women's PGA Championship
LOS ANGELES: Australia's Minjee Lee defied difficult, windy conditions with a remarkable bogey-free three-under par 69 on Saturday to seize a four-stroke lead over Jeeno Thitikul at the Women's PGA Championship in Texas. Lee, chasing her third major title, fired three birdies in one of just three sub-par rounds at Fields Ranch East in Frisco, north of Dallas, where soaring temperatures and wind tested golfers for a third straight day. "I just try to stay patient out there," the 29-year-old said after building a six-under total of 210. "You can't get ahead of yourself, especially in these conditions." Trailing Jeeno by three to start the day, Lee grabbed her first birdie at the ninth, where she blasted out of a greenside bunker to four feet and made the putt. She finally took control at the par-five 14th, drilling a 19-foot birdie putt as Jeeno three-putted for a bogey that dropped her three strokes back. Lee added a birdie at the 15th, and remained bogey free with a par save at 18 – where her second shot raced through the green but she chipped to three feet. "I try to stay within myself and play the shot as best as I could," she said. "Just stayed patient, just take it as it comes." Lee, whose 10 LPGA victories include major titles at the 2021 Evian Championship and 2022 US Women's Open, said there would be plenty of work to do on Sunday despite her four-shot cushion. "It's just only getting harder and harder just with I think pressure of a major championship, and also just the course just demands so much from you," she said. World number two Jeeno's hopes of a first major title took an early hit with bogeys at the third and sixth. She rolled in a 12-foot birdie at the eighth, but dropped into a tie for the lead after back-to-back bogeys at 11 and 12. She bounced back from her bogey at 14 with a birdie at 15, but gave back a shot at the 16th, finishing with a four-over 76 for 214. Lee and Jeeno, both based in the Dallas area, were the only players under par heading into the final round. US veteran Lexi Thompson, playing a limited schedule this season, shook off a horrendous start to post a three-over par 75 to headline a trio sharing third place on one-over 217. Thompson opened with a triple-bogey and a bogey and added another bogey at the eighth before she made two birdies coming in. She was joined on one-over by South Korean Choi Hye-jin, who carded a 72, and Japan's Miyu Yamashita, who shot 73. World number one Nelly Korda had five birdies and five bogeys in her even par 72 to headline a group of four on 218. "It's brutal out there when it comes to the setup of the golf course, wind conditions, everything," Korda said. "I'm very happy with even par. "You're just happy to get 18 under your belt on a day like this," added the American, who said having substantial waits on several tees only added to the difficulty of the day. "You don't want to be spending 20 minutes and getting up to the next tee and then you're 15 minutes and getting up to the next tee and it's another 15 minutes," she said. "There is just, like, no momentum in it." Korda was tied with Ireland's Leona Maguire, Japan's Chisato Iwai, South Korean Lee So-mi and American Yealimi Noh – who had two eagles but also six bogeys in her 74. Australian Grace Kim had the low round of the day, firing six birdies in an impressive four-under par 68 that gave put her among a group of five players on three-over 219.--AFP
New Straits Times
3 hours ago
- New Straits Times
One game to win it all: Thunder host Pacers in NBA Finals game 7
LOS ANGELES: The Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers are poised for an epic championship showdown on Sunday, the Thunder seeking to crown an historic season with a victory over a tenacious Pacers team that has stunningly forced a rare NBA Finals game seven. "We've got one game," Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton said. "One game. Nothing that has happened before matters and nothing that's going to happen after matters. It's all about that one game." The Thunder certainly know it too. "One game for everything you ever dreamed of," Oklahoma City's newly minted NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said after the Thunder slumped to a blowout loss in game six. "If you win it, you get everything. If you lose it, you get nothing." The Thunder remain heavy favorites. A victory on their home floor on Sunday would crown a dazzling campaign in which they led the league with 68 regular-season wins and set a league record for average scoring margin. Gilgeous-Alexander led the NBA in scoring with 32.7 points per game and could become the first player since Golden State's Stephen Curry in 2015 to win the MVP award and the title in the same season. In addition, home teams are 15-4 in Finals game sevens. But the last time the championship series went the distance, in 2016, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers completed a stunning triumph over the Golden State Warriors in Oakland. And the Pacers have proven repeatedly this season, and in this series, that they can't be counted out. The Pacers opened their season with four straight defeats and at 10-15 were languishing in 10th place in the East with almost a third of the campaign gone. But with a raft of injuries behind them, the Pacers had the best record in the East from New Year's Day to the end of the regular season. Seeded fourth in the East, the Pacers beat the Giannis Antetokounmpo-led Milwaukee Bucks, the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers and the third-seeded New York Knicks to reach the Finals. Haliburton, inexplicably voted the "most overrated" player in the league in an anonymous player poll this season, has had the last laugh with a string of clutch performances – including the last-gasp game-winner in the Pacers' 111-110 game-one triumph. The Pacers won two of the first three games of the series before the Thunder won two straight to give themselves a first chance to clinch in game six – when Haliburton shook off a right calf strain to inspire his teammates to a lopsided victory that knotted the series at three games apiece. Now Indiana have a chance to claim a first NBA championship for a franchise that won three American Basketball Association titles but struggled so much financially after joining the NBA in 1976 that their future was in doubt. "I think the expectations for this group from an external viewpoint coming into the year weren't very high," Haliburton said. "They weren't very high coming into the playoffs. They weren't very high going into the second round of the playoffs. They weren't very high going into the third round. They weren't very high now. "I think we just have done a great job of just staying together. There's not a group of guys I'd rather go to war with." The top-seeded Thunder swept the Memphis Grizzlies, then beat Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in seven games before ousting the Minnesota Timberwolves to become the youngest team to reach the Finals since 1977. They can claim the franchise's first title since a controversial move to Oklahoma City in 2008, having won it all in 1979 as the Seattle SuperSonics. Gilgeous-Alexander says the Thunder have what it takes to win if they play to their potential. "I don't think I have to do anything special because of the stage," he said. "We just have to be who we've been all year and then use the muscles that we've trained all year." Both teams stressed the importance of setting aside the emotion of the moment, but Gilgeous-Alexander said the Thunder must play with a sense of urgency against the relentless Pacers. "It has to be an emphasis," he said. "It has to be the top of our mind. It has to be all we care about, and above all, we just have to want to do it."--AFP
