To mark Valentine’s Day, the Chongqing Times reports on a matchmaking event held in the city over the weekend. 1,600 participants were selected from 3,318 online applications, but the event ended up pairing off just 4 couples.
In the upper right corner is a picture of China’s newest basketball sensation. Zhou Qi (周琦), a 15-year-old from Henan, led China to a surprise 67:66 win over host Turkey at the Turk Telecom Under-16 tournament. Zhou scored 30 points, made 17 rebounds and had 8 blocks during the game.
Standing 2.15 meters tall, Zhou invites comparisons to some famous names. The paper quotes Asia Basket: “He certainly shows the promise of following Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi as a dominant Chinese center.”
Is he really that good? The paper offers evidence in three areas:
- His stats: In the semifinal game against Germany, Zhou scored 41 points, grabbed 28 rebounds and made 15 blocks. Against France, he scored 29 points and made 7 rebounds. His tournament averages: 20.86 points (#2), 10.3 rebounds (tie for #4) and 5.4 blocks (#1).
- Comparison to past stars. Zhou resembles Wang Zhizhi, who as a 15-year-old played for China at the Under-16s in Greece and ranked #2 in points scored, #2 in rebounds, and #1 in total blocks. The paper asserts that Zhou’s performance is better than Yao Ming’s was at 15, and he’s got an enormous arm span. He’s also pretty quick.
- He’s good looking. Yi Jianlian had better watch out.
- Chongqing Times (Chinese): 15-year-old, 2.15 meter Zhou Qi, the next Yao Ming, 0.5% success rate for 1,600 participants in matchmaking event
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