Female basketball player from China, Zhang Ziyu, who is 220 cm tall, was in the spotlight when playing against Indonesia in the FIBA U-18 Women’s Asia Cup match on Monday (24/6/2024) at Longhua Culture & Sports Center, China. In that match, Zhang Ziyu seemed to dominate with her tall and straight body compared to the other national team players.
So, what is the profile of Zhang Ziyu, a basketball player from China who is 220 cm tall?
Comes from a basketball family
Quoted from Talksport, Zhang Ziyu is a 17 year old basketball player from Shadong Province, China. Zhang became interested in basketball at the age of five, when her parents taught her to play basketball for the first time.
Zhang’s parents were basketball athletes. His mother, Yu Ying, is a national basketball team player with a height of 195 cm. Retired from being a player, her mother now works as a coach for the women’s basketball team in Shadong Province. Meanwhile, her father is also a professional basketball athlete who is 210 cm tall.
Zhang studied elementary school at Wenhua East Road Primary School located in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province. Since entering elementary school, Zhang’s height has attracted attention, reaching 154 cm. After graduating from that school, she continued her high school education at Tsinghua University Middle School in 2019. Not without reason, Zhang deliberately enrolled there because the school was famous for the prowess of its basketball team. Zhang’s growth in height became more obvious when she reached the age of 14, when she reached 200 cm tall.
First known in 2021
Reporting from Sportskeeda, Monday (24/6/2024), her name first went viral in 2021, when it appeared on Chinese social media, Weibo. Footage posted on Weibo shows 14-year-old Zhang towering over her teammates after winning the U-15 Women’s Basketball League.
Not only famous for her height, Zhang’s basketball game also attracted world attention when she managed to score 42 points and grab 25 rebounds and six blocks in that match. Because of her stunning stature and performance, many compare her to Yao Ming, the legendary basketball player from China who was the first to play in the NBA competition.
Her first debut was in the FIBA Under-18 Women’s Asia Cup
Even though the FIBA Under-18 Women’s Asia Cup was her first league as a center for the national team, she managed to give her best performance. In the duel against New Zealand, Zhang was able to score 36 points. Meanwhile, in the match against Indonesia, Zhang managed to score 19 points and take over seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and three blocks in just 13 minutes. Foreign media highlighted that Zhang Ziyu will attract the attention of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) team.
