The wife of NBA center Yao Ming is expecting their first child, sending netizens into a frenzy of hope for a new generation to lead China’s basketball team.
“The news that Ye Li is pregnant is true. Yao Ming and his wife would like to thank all those who are showing concern,” Yao’s China-based spokesman Zhang Chi told reporters.
He declined to give further information, citing “the need for a relaxed environment” for China’s most famous basketballing couple to complete “the most important thing in their lives.”
PHOTO: AFP
According to the Beijing News, the 29-year-old Houston Rocket — out for the season as he recovers from a foot injury — is expected to become a father in July. No decision has been made on where the baby will be born.
Both Yao and his wife — once a center on China’s women’s national basketball team — are the offspring of professional athletes. They reportedly married at the request of sports officials in their hometown of Shanghai.
Ever since the 2.29m Yao married his 1.90m wife in 2007, speculation has run rampant as to when their first baby would be born, popular Internet portal Sina.com said.
As both Yao and his wife were born in the 1980s and are only children, the couple will be allowed to give birth to two children under China’s recently relaxed “one-child” family planning policy, the report said.
“We hope that Yao Ming and Ye Li will go further and raise more pillars of the next generation of Chinese basketball,” it said.
In a Sina.com online poll, 76 percent of more than 29,000 people voting said that Yao’s child was likely to grow taller than 2.05m, while 33 percent said the baby would grow taller than 2.20m.
Taiwan’s Lee Hao-yu on Friday went 0-for-3 in his MLB debut for the Detroit Tigers against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, becoming the 19th Taiwan-born player to reach the big leagues. The Tigers ultimately lost 1-0 in 10 innings, ending their six-game winning streak. The 23-year-old started at third base and batted eighth for Detroit. He was promoted from Triple-A Toledo ahead of the four-game series against the Red Sox at the latter’s home stadium, replacing injured utility player Zach McKinstry. “Being right-handed, and given our schedule, I think six of the next 12 games are going to
When Paddy Dwyer arrived in China in 1976, crowds jostled to catch a glimpse of him and his companions — the first Western soccer team to play in the country. China was emerging from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, and on the brink of market reforms that would take the country from economic stagnation to explosive growth. “All we could see was lines of people running beside our bus, trying to look in the windows, to see their first visual of a white person,” he said. “It was all bicycles,” he said. “There were very few cars to be seen.” Dwyer,
Matheus Cunha on Saturday fired Manchester United toward the UEFA Champions League with a 1-0 win at Chelsea, while Tottenham Hotspur remain in the relegation zone after twice blowing the lead to draw with Brighton & Hove Albion. Chelsea failed to take advantage of a United defense ravaged by injury and suspension as a fourth straight league defeat for the Blues left their Champions League hopes in ruins. United have missed out on the riches of Europe’s elite competition for the past two seasons, but are closing in on a return thanks to an upturn in fortunes under interim manager
A new NZ$683 million (US$404 million) stadium that was a symbol of Christchurch’s struggle to rebuild after a deadly earthquake struck the New Zealand city is to host its first match tomorrow in front of a sellout crowd. A magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed 185 people in February 2011 and toppled or damaged buildings, including the city’s old Lancaster Park. The stadium, which hosted international rugby and cricket, and was home to the Canterbury Crusaders, was badly damaged and never reopened. It was bulldozed in 2019 and turned into sports fields, leaving the Crusaders without a permanent home. Government funding for a new stadium was
RSS