Jianlian hopes to fill Yao Ming's shoes

7msports > Basketball Video > Jianlian hopes to fill Yao Ming's shoes

Sunday, June 17 2012 by SNTV

Intro:

Chinese men's basketball star Yi Jianlian has joined up with the Chinese Olympic squad in Beijing as they prepare for London 2012.

With Yao Ming's retirement from basketball court last year, Yi Jianlian, the forward with the NBA Mavericks, is seen as the new leader of the Chinese men's basketball squad.

Script:

Nike unveiled the gear for some of the Chinese Olympics team on Saturday night in the Mastercard Wukesong stadium - the Olympic basketball venue in the 2008 Beijing Games.

Chinese athletes of track and field, tennis, weightlifting, wrestling and basketball will compete in London with their Olympic uniforms featuring red and yellow - the two colours of the Chinese national flag.

Yi Jianlian, a current NBA player with the Dallas Mavericks, only joined the team on Friday after his NBA season.

With superstar Yao Ming's retirement, Yi is now the player for the national team to be built around.

SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Yi Jianlian, center of Chinese National Basketball team centre.
"I will play a different role in the team in London comparing to the one in 2008. A totally different role. As everybody knows, 4 years ago, Yao Ming was still playing and he was the centre of the team at that time. I have done a lot work and focused on defence and rebounds. This year, apart from defence, I will be more focused on offence in the competition. I think I have improved a lot in the past four years after experiencing so many games on the court."

China's tall men have competed in seven Olympic basketball events, with their best result a quarter-final placing in 1996, 2004 and 2008.