Yao-mania bemocks rape suspect Byrant in basketball world

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 25, 2003

Yao-mania bemocks rape suspect Byrant in basketball world

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In a year of jubilation against repentance, basketball fans across the world hail Chinese center Yao Ming with an affecting Yao-mania, but bemoan the former NBA idol citizen of Kobe Bryant in a heartstricken lamentation.

Chinese Yao, the first top-picked foreigner in NBA history, was honored as one of China's Top Ten Youngsters of 2003, along with its first-ever astronaut Yang Liwei, by a 65-member special committee. Only 47 candidates have been recommended nation-wide for the 14th appraisal of the kind in China.

The Houston Rockets' center, who boasts of his vast wingspan and towering height of 2.29 meters, also won the laurels in the world as he was voted as the Newcomer of the Year by the Laureus World Sports Academy in Monte Carlo.

Against his seemingly fragile physique, Yao stamped his footprints on the court, scoring game-high 30 points and grabbing 15 rebounds to lead China for a 106-96 victory over regional arch rival South Korea. Thus, China won both the Asian basketball title and the lone automatic ticket from the Asian zone for the Olympic Games in Athens next year.

Surprising to all but home fans of millions, the NBA All Star center is also changing the international fortunes of the National Basketball Association.

For the first time, 51 percent of internet traffic to the NBA web sites came from outside the United States during the first month of the new NBA season, and international traffic nearly doubled to 30 million visits, led by China, with 8 million ones in November, a 3,000 percent increase from China.

In its joyful anticipation, the well-prepared NBA officially launched a Chinese-language version of its website in January, aiming to capitalize on an already huge base of basketball fans inthe country of 1.3 billion people.

The potential market of stardom also prompted Reebok International Ltd. to sign a multiyear marketing deal, hoping Yao's popularity in China will help it earn a 20 percent market share,an estimated 300 million US dollars, by 2008, after Reebok and theNBA initiated their Pan-Asian partnership in June to develop and market NBA apparel and accessories.

On his part, Yao also stepped up to protect his own rights, suing Atlanta-based Coca-Cola in May for a symbolic compensation of one yuan (0.12 dollars) of using his image improperly. Yao demanded the immediate recall of all Coca-Cola products and promotional materials bearing his image and name. Both sides later reached their off-court settlement.

Yet, against the great moments for Chinese Yao, American Kobe Bryant, one of the world's best known basketball players, provideda sinister backdrop in 2003 as he was summoned up to the courts asa rape suspect.

Once conjured up as an NBA model citizen, Bryant, a high schoolbasketball genius, had his sparkling image tarnished after he allegedly raped a 19-year-old employee at a posh Colorado resort, despite his tearful apology to the world, saying he was guilty of nothing more than adultery.

The NBA all-star of the Los Angeles Lakers could face up to 20 years in prison when he returns to a Colorado court next year.

In a back number of the basketball world, legendary Michael Jordan eventually bade his final farewell while Lebron James, another gifted high school sensation, made his fame onto the NBA court. James is gossiped to be another candidate to fill the voidleft by "His Airness" after he was picked up overall first by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the June draft.

Jordan, 40, regarded by many as the best player to ever grace the NBA hardwood, slipped into retirement and departed with bitterdisappointment after he failed to lift the woeful Washington Wizards into the playoffs.

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