Feature: Li Meng chases basketball dream despite challenges

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Feature: Li Meng chases basketball dream despite challenges

2020-10-22 19:18 Last Updated At：19:19

China's women's basketball national team player Li Meng remains headfast in chasing her dream, despite facing several hurdles along the way.

The path to pursuing her basketball dream started from the age of five, despite her coaching labelling her as "too small". In her twenties, Li suffered anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures to both knees within six months.

But the 25-year-old Chinese international just kept it rolling towards her basketball dream.

"Because I love it," she told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

Li was hailed for her sporting talent at a young age, and her parents wanted her to take up a sport, so they brought her to a swimming class when she was four years old.

After swimming for just one year, Li often suffered from painful ear ache, so her mother took her to see a doctor.

"Do not let your child swim again, as she may get otitis media due to her ear's constant exposure to water," the doctor said.

Her mother finally gave up hope of Li becoming a future swimming star. She heard about a basketball class from a friend, and decided that her daughter should give that a go.

"When the coach saw me, he immediately refused as I was only five years old then. From his viewpoint, such a young kid could not hone anything. But my mom persuaded the coach to give me a chance. As you see, I've persisted in playing basketball until now," Li recalled.

Li immediately fell in love with basketball. "At five years old, I never knew what it would bring me. But after I took it up and was involved in it, I found a passion for the game."

Li rose to fame at the FIBA U17 Women's Basketball World Cup in 2010. She averaged 15.4 points and 6.2 rebounds as China claimed the bronze medal. Her stellar performance earned her the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award at the competition.

"I was taking photos with teammates at the ceremony, and suddenly heard my name called and received the trophy. I didn't realize how important it was until my coaches informed me after I returned home."

Li began to look ahead to her professional career. But the darkest days of her basketball career arrived, when she ruptured the ACL in both knees in less than six months.

"When I was injured for the first time, I was not quite worried about it. But then I got injured again, I began to think about it seriously," Li revealed.

She told her mother she wanted to stop playing basketball and go to school.

But following her coaches' persuasion, Li decided to persist with her life-long dream.

Li made her professional debut in the 2012-13 Women's Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA) season.

"You can be successful in the youth leagues with good skills. But in the pro league, you have to know how to spur your teammates on with your character and strength."

China punched its ticket to the Tokyo Olympic Games this February, which carried more weight as China was already battling against the COVID-19 outbreak.

Li was the driving force in China's successful qualification campaign, and again won the MVP award.

"It is my dream (to play at the Olympics), and my responsibility to represent my country. It also boosted everyone's confidence during that special period," she noted.

Li believes the postponement of the Olympics will offer the team more preparation time, while calling for the team to maintain its training level and match fitness.

"Getting an Olympic spot is not our destination. We have to fully prepare for the Games. We have to review and see if there are some weaknesses, whether in mentality, condition or technique. Hopefully everyone can make some improvements before the Olympics," Li commented.

After missing out at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Li expressed her anticipation towards the Games in Tokyo.

"I will strive to win an Olympic medal. This is also the team's target," she said.

Due to her outstanding physical quality and all-around performance, Li is dubbed "LeBron Meng" in China, in reference to her idol and NBA megastar LeBron James.

"Mentally he (James) has a huge impact on me. He can step up anytime when the team needs him. I have a big gap from him, but I will spare no effort to get closer to him," Li said.

Li, who recently signed an agreement with world-renowned sports brand Nike, said it reflected the brand's recognition towards her, while pushing her to work harder in future training.

"Now more and more people are following women's basketball. We are also getting better to make more people realize our value," she commented.

"I'm on a road of challenging myself. I have a lot to improve on," said Li, who received a contract from Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) side Minnesota Lynx last year, but decided not to go overseas to better prepare for her national duties.

"No matter in the national team or club, I always target the top of the podium," she added.

Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard and Sue Bird highlight Basketball Hall of Fame class

2025-04-06 01:28 Last Updated At：01:31

Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard are going into the Basketball Hall of Fame later this year, not once but twice. And LeBron James and Chris Paul are part of the group that’s headed to the Hall as well, even before their playing careers end.

Anthony and Howard were announced Saturday as members of the Class of 2025, as was the 2008 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team that they played on — dubbed the “Redeem Team,” the one that captured gold at the Beijing Games and started a still-going run of five consecutive Olympic titles and counting for USA Basketball’s men’s program.

Also selected for enshrinement: WNBA greats Sue Bird, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles, Chicago Bulls coach and two-time NCAA champion Billy Donovan, Miami Heat managing general partner Micky Arison and longtime NBA referee Danny Crawford.

“I made it to the real basketball heaven,” Howard said. “It's crazy.”

Enshrinement weekend is Sept. 5-6 at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, and the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

“When the call comes and in my case, I saw Springfield on the phone,” Anthony said on the televised announcement. “You know what time it is Springfield is on the phone. You know who it is. You get the phone call and you hear, ‘You’re in.’ And I think for me, it was a burden off of my shoulders.”

Donovan won back-to-back titles as a college coach with Florida. Arison oversaw Miami’s path to NBA titles in 2006, 2012 and 2013. Crawford worked NBA games for 32 seasons and was picked to work the NBA Finals in 23 of those years.

“For some, this is an individual honor,” Arison said. “But for me, this speaks to what our entire Heat family — players, coaches, staff and fans — have built together.”

Combined, the five players selected as individuals – Bird, Moore, Fowles, Howard and Anthony – were part of 11 WNBA or NBA championship teams, won 15 Olympic gold medals, made 37 All-NBA or All-WNBA appearances and were named as All-Stars 45 times in their careers.

“Surreal,” Bird said of her selection. “I don't think there's any way to really wrap your head around it.”

Added Fowles: “I don't think (any) one of us go into this thinking that we're going to be Hall of Famers. You just do your job ... and when it's all said and done, the job is complete and here we are.”

The Redeem Team’s selection means that Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Jason Kidd and Kobe Bryant — already enshrined as Hall of Famers — essentially now go in for a second time. James and Paul, who are obviously both locks to get into the Hall after they retire, also played for that Olympic team, as did Anthony, Howard, Michael Redd, Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams and Tayshaun Prince.

That team's managing director was Jerry Colangelo, who now chairs the Hall of Fame.

“We developed a set of standards where all the guys lived by those standards,” said former Duke coach and 2001 Hall of Fame inductee Mike Krzyzewski, who coached that 2008 Olympic team. “They were the best group of guys. I wish like crazy that Kobe was here. He was really the key guy, I think. As many great players as we had at that point, he was the greatest and everyone looked up to him.”

Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others were killed in a 2020 helicopter crash. Bryant was enshrined posthumously into the Hall later that year.

The Redeem Team had that moniker because it was the team tasked with restoring USA Basketball’s place atop the world stage, after the 2004 Olympic team only managed a bronze medal at the Athens Games. The Redeem Team went 8-0 in Beijing, winning those games by an average of 27.9 points.

“USA Basketball is thrilled to see the 2008 U.S. Men’s Olympic Team elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame,” USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley said. “The Redeem Team’s celebrated run in Beijing marks a pivotal moment in U.S. men’s Olympic basketball history and has propelled us to five straight gold medals.

“Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard, members of that team and individual inductees, are two of the many legends in this Class who have contributed to our organization’s success over the last 20-plus years, including Sue Bird, Billy Donovan, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles,” Tooley added.

UConn’s women’s program already had coach Geno Auriemma, Swin Cash (enshrined as a player) and Rebecca Lobo (enshrined as a contributor) in the Hall of Fame, and Bird and Moore going in together will obviously add to what’s always a huge weekend in New England.

“They’re hall of famers for me, they’re hall of famers for their family, they’re hall of famers for everybody — they’re even hall of famers for UConn haters,” Auriemma said. “That’s one thing they can all agree on.”

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