Asian Games 2023: Yao Ming sorry for ‘cancelling’ China basketball press conference after semi-final loss to Philippines
- NBA legend takes ‘responsibility’ as men’s national team initially fail to speak to media after defeat
- Captain Zhao Jiwei and his coach Aleksandar Djordjevic eventually return from athletes’ village and apologise to fans for performance
Yao Ming apologised to reporters on a dramatic night for Chinese basketball at the Asian Games, where the men’s side lost their semi-final to the Philippines and then seemingly cancelled their post-match press conference.
The NBA legend, a former star with the Houston Rockets who is now the president of the Chinese Basketball Association, said there had been an error in communication with the team after Wednesday night’s heartbreaking 77-76 defeat, according to local media on the ground in Hangzhou.
Popular sports blogger Li Xuan wrote on Weibo that, after the Philippines had finished their press conference, the host announced they had been notified the Chinese men’s basketball team had cancelled their press conference.
The Chinese reporters present booed, according to Li, and asked the host to announce it again so that everyone could record it on video.
One reporter even quipped: “This is more embarrassing than losing.”
Li speculated that the team may have got word of the media’s angry response, which was why “the matter later turned around”. After about 10 minutes, reporters, who were already on the media bus, received notice that “the China men’s team is willing to hold a press conference again”.
Upon the reporters’ return to the press conference venue, Li said, coach Aleksandar Djordjevic brought captain Zhao Jiwei with him to answer questions.
Djordjevic said he was responsible for the loss, but Zhao interrupted and said his coach could not be held responsible for every failure, and the players should share the blame.
“I don’t know if I can represent the team,” Zhao said. “If I can’t represent the team, on behalf of myself, I would like to apologise to fans who care about Chinese basketball and us.”
Yao addressed the reporters and said the team left in a hurry after the end of the match. He claimed “as the team leader, I am responsible” for the failure to follow procedures.
“When our car left the arena about five minutes later, we received a call from the arena, reminding us of this incident,” he said.
“We decided to drive to the athletes’ village first, drop off all the players, let them eat, rest, and prepare for the next game. Then we immediately came back with the coach and captain Jiwei.
“I have caused a delay in time for everyone here. I would like to apologise to everyone.”
China will now play in the bronze medal match on Friday against Chinese Taipei, who were beaten 90-71 by Jordan in the other semi-final.
China also struggled in last month’s Fiba Basketball World Cup, winning just one of their five games, and Li questioned the direction of the team in another post on his Weibo microblog, where he has more than 6.2 million followers.
“Frankly speaking, I won’t call Yao Ming out of class, not because of how good his grades are now, nor because of how brilliant he was as a player, but because I don’t know who the Chinese men’s basketball team would be able to bring in to improve in his place,” Li wrote.
“The problem of Chinese basketball is the same as the problem of Chinese football. It is a stubborn problem that cannot be solved in a short time. Yao Ming is responsible for the current situation, but he is not fully responsible.”
