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 Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
FINAL WEEK LOOMS: PSG rose to 22nd place to set up another tense challenge against 24th-placed Stuttgart, while Man City require victory against Club Brugge Manchester City are on the brink of a humiliating UEFA Champions League exit after a stunning loss to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, while Real Madrid is no longer at risk after routing Salzburg. Man City blew a two-goal lead in a high-stakes clash of super-wealthy underachievers that PSG won 4-2 in Paris, who could still be eliminated alongside the English champions after the final round of games next week. Only the top 24 in the 36-team standings are to advance. Man City, the 2023 champions, are in 25th place, but could squeeze into the knockout playoffs round by beating Club Brugge. “We will
RSS