YAO MING Biography - Famous Sports men and women

 
 

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YAO MING

Name: Yao Ming                                                                   
Born: 12 September 1980 Shanghai, China                                         
                                                                                 
Yao Ming (born September 12, 1980, in Shanghai, China)                           
is a Chinese professional basketball player who plays for the Houston           
Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is currently the       
tallest player in the NBA, standing at 7'6" (2.29 m). He played for the         
Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) for five years,     
before being selected by Houston as the 1st overall pick of the 2002 NBA Draft. 
                                                                                 
Yao was born to a 6'7" (2.01 m) father, Yao Zhiyuan, and a 6'3" (1.90 m)         
mother, Fang Fengdi. His mother was the captain of the women’s national team   
that won the first Asian Championship in 1976. Yao's birth weight was 11         
pounds, twice the average size in China. He was 5' by age ten, and 6'7" (2       
meters) by age thirteen. He developed a sickness at age seven that resulted     
in him losing his hearing in his left ear.                                       
                                                                                 
He first started playing basketball at age nine, and he went to the junior       
sports school at the same age. When he was examined at age ten he was           
predicted to grow to the height of 7’3”. The Sharks invited him to try out   
for their junior team when he was thirteen, where he had to practice for 10     
hours a day to make the team. He first dunked at age fifteen, and he made       
the senior team of the Sharks when he was seventeen.