Wei Wei, the sizable center of the Guangzhou women's basketball team, caused quite a stir at the 6th Chinese City Games. Her performance earned her a reputation as a "female Yao Ming".

Although her team failed to top the podium on Sunday after losing to defending champion Nanjing 80-72, plenty of observers took notice of the towering talent.

The 18-year-old Wei is 2.07m tall, three centimeters taller than Zheng Haixia, the enormous center who helped the national women's basketball team win the silver medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.

"Other than Wei Wei, we haven't found any other potential stars," said Gong Luming, former head coach of the Chinese women's national basketball team.

Despite her potential, Wei's performance at the City Games was underwhelming. She never appeared in Guangzhou's starting lineup, and her play was inconsistent.

After two years on the national basketball team, coaches are still waiting for her to develop into the player they know she can be.

"Wei should become a leading player on the national team, but she is still too weak in strength and not forceful enough in the paint," Gong said.

Wei has basketball in her blood. She was born in Taiyuan in Shanxi Province to a father who stood 196cm and used to play center for the local police team and a 182cm-tall mother, who was once a top player for the Shanxi team. The first gift she ever received from her parents, in fact, was a basketball.

"I've loved basketball ever since I was a child, and I have a lot of basketballs at home," Wei said.

"Although my parents are basketball players, they didn't teach me to play basketball on purpose," she said. "I just played it with my classmates in primary school. Only until they realized that I had a deep love for the sport did they begin to teach me."

When Wei was in fourth grade she was already 185cm tall. A coach from Guangzhou Weilun Sports School noticed her and brought her to the school to receive systematic training. 

As tall as she is, Wei weighs only 90kg and is not very muscular. Her frail body and inexperience led to a number of demotions from the national team, forcing her to miss competitions like the Doha Asian Games in 2006.

But her coaches still have faith that she could become something special. Guangzhou's coach, Zheng Wei, admitted that she is still young and growing. The coach said the team has given her a special training program and believes she'll be able to bulk up in no time. 

Despite her limited time on the floor at the City Games, Wei's coach said she performed well.

"I asked her to play a maximum of twenty minutes in order to protect her," Zheng said. "She averaged 10 points and 10 rebounds - her performance was good." 

Wei began her career in the WCBA league in 2004. In her debut match she played five and half minutes, scoring two points and grabbing one rebound.

She has progressed steadily since then, averaging 17 points a game since she was dropped from the roster in the Doha Asian Games.

"I think my speed is OK but my techniques are just so-so," she admitted. "I do well in blocks and defense. But what I badly need is to increase my weight. I should be over 100kg."

Gong Luming was upbeat about Wei's potential: "It totally depends on her devotion to the sport, but up to now she has made steady progress."

It may be a while before Wei reaches Yao Ming's level of success, but the giant teen from Shanxi is on the right path.

(Xinhua News Agency November 6, 2007)