Basketball | The 220 cm tall Chinese teenage girl became the topic of global conversation – this is how the coaches describe her

Basketball the under-18 girls’ Asian championship tournament does not usually become a global topic of conversation. However, this summer was different.

China, the host country of the Games, named a shockingly superior player to its team: a 220 centimeter tall center forward Zhang Ziyun.

17-year-old Zhang is the world’s tallest female basketball player of all time. Previously, the record was held by a Pole Margo Dydek too on behalf of. Dydek, who died in 2011 when he was only 37 years old, was 218 centimeters tall.

Zhang would also appear to be the world’s tallest living woman. Guinness according to the record book, the title belongs to a Turk Rudeness for Gelgwho is 215.16 centimeters tall, almost five centimeters shorter than Zhang.

On the field, Zhang was completely unstoppable. When the opponents only reached him up to the chest, Zhang did whatever he wanted under the basket.

In the preliminary group game against Japan, Zhang scored 44 points, breaking the tournament’s all-time record.

His scoring average of 35.0 and rebounding average of 12.8 were the highest in the tournament and he was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

Video clips of Zhang circulated in the world’s media and people began to call her “feminine to Yao Ming“. The 229-centimeter Yao was China’s first NBA superstar.

Zhang himself took the media attention kindly and answered the journalists’ questions with a shy smile on his face.

“When everyone thinks I’m like ‘Speaker Yao,’ I worked hard to become as good as him,” Zhang said.

Zhang’s similarities to Yao Ming don’t stop at length. Like Yao, his parents are both former professional basketball players.

Zhang’s 198 cm tall mother Yu Ying played as a center forward for the Chinese national team and Zhang’s 213-centimeter father Zhang Lei represented the country’s army team.

Until her parents’ marriage, Yao’s career was carefully tailored by the Chinese sports authorities. Zhang’s path shows the same signs.

in China Zhang burst into the national spotlight for the first time when he was only 11 years old, when a TV camera crew arrived at his elementary school in the eastern Chinese city of Jinan.

At that time, Zhang was already 208 centimeters tall, and his classmates reached him almost to the height of the navel.

“He was 160 centimeters tall as a first grader. We’ve grown six years since then, but we’re still not as tall as he was when we started school,” said one schoolmate.

“Zhang is a few months younger than me, but when he wants to talk to me, he has to bow down,” another added.

Already at that time, Zhang’s bright future was envisioned and it was thought that China had finally found a new central striker of the women’s national team, the legendary Zheng Haixian as a continuation of the work.

The next one once Zhang burst into the limelight in China in August 2022, when he played for the Jinan team in the Shandong Provincial Championship tournament against the Zibo City combination.

In the final game, Zhang scored 68 points and grabbed 24 rebounds.

“Not only is he big, but his game intelligence is at a high level and he has good hands,” Zhang’s school team coach Luan Mingjie described.

Zhang didn’t really jump in the matches, but according to Luan, it wasn’t due to a lack of physics, but because Zhang was rolling even without it.

“If we talk about his athletic qualities, he can jump and run. However, at this level, he doesn’t need to, because opponents barely reach his elbow when he raises his arm.”

Luan admittedthat Zhang still has a lot of room for improvement.

“He is still raw, far from a finished player. She still has a lot of room for improvement, but with the help of hard work she will surely become at least a member of the national team.”

Despite Zhang’s scoring effort, Jinan lost the final match to Zibo 90–91. Yu Ying, Zhang’s mother, who watched the match, thought that the loss would ultimately benefit her daughter.

“He needs bitter losses like this to keep his feet on the ground. They will help him grow mentally and be more prepared to face challenges in the future,” said Yu.

Hard ones along with experience, Zhang needs training tailored to him. With the Chinese girls’ national team, she rarely participated in team training, instead training alone under the guidance of a personal trainer.

The national team coach, who remained anonymous, rated the weekly magazine Zhongguo Xinwen zhoukan in the interview that Zhang still needs a lot more hardness for adult games.

Height superiority is less useful when you are facing junior girls who are bigger and more aggressive defenders.

“When Zhang Ziyu grows up, he can increase the amount of strength training and thus improve his toughness,” the coach said.

According to the coach, Zhang’s training pays special attention to strengthening critical body parts for him, such as ankles and knees.

The plan for a unique player is clear. First, Zhang is wanted to succeed in China’s internal adult competitions. After that, it will be time to break into the international top.

The goal at the moment is for Zhang to play for the Chinese national team at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics in 2028. At that time, Zhang will be 21 years old.

Sources: China Daily, Fiba, Xinhua, Zhongguo Xinwen zhoukan, Yahoo Sports