US basketball legend Michael Jordan flew into Taiwan from Hong Kong yesterday evening to promote his name-brand line of sportswear.
The NBA's five-time Most Valuable Player is swinging through Asia this month and will stay in Taipei for less than 24 hours. He will be leaving at 4pm today for Tokyo, the last stop on his four-leg tour.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Long before his NT$2.5 billion private jet touched down at 6:30pm yesterday, thousands of crazed fans wearing Jordan trainers and jerseys with placards and banners in hand had swarmed into the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, jostling for the best place from which to see.
Loud cheers of "lanqiu dadi [
Though enthusiastic fans seemed to have no chance of getting close to Jordan, the former Chicago Bulls star waved with a big smile to the shouting and screaming fans, apparently in a relaxed mood, before getting into a limousine heading toward the five-star hotel in which he will stay.
Outside the hotel a young fan said he had been waiting for his idol for six hours.
"He is the god," said Howard Kuo (
Wearing a red basketball T-shirt with a large number 23 on the front and white Jordan-brand athletic shoes, Kuo said he and his friends pooled money to book two rooms in the Grand Formosa Regent Taipei, where Jordan stayed last night.
"We just want to be in the same place with him," he said.
As Jordan's limousine moved closer and closer to downtown Taipei, the crowd gathering outside Grand Formosa grew agitated.
Asked what they would say if the famous NBA player happened to toss a gaze at them, university student Eric Chung (
"There is only one Jordan. He's irreplaceable," another shouted.
This afternoon, Jordan is scheduled to hold a press conference in the hotel, attend an exhibition of sports wear and meet with 700 lucky fans in Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall II.
Two hundred of the lucky fans were chosen by Nike Taiwan in an online contest in which they had to write down their feelings about the basketball megastar, while the other 500 won the tickets in a lucky draw held by the same company.
Some tickets were auctioned online, however, with prices ranging from NT$7,000 to NT$20,000 each.
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