A media report carrying school photographs and an identification card has raised doubts about Chinese NBA player Yi Jianlian's age, less than two weeks after 26 local players were found to have falsified birth dates.

 

New Jersey Nets forward Yi, China's fourth NBA player, is officially 21, but a cloud of suspicion surrounded his age before he was picked sixth overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2007 NBA draft.

Yi has consistently refused to answer questions about his age.

Suspicion of age fraud has long been a hallmark of the state-run sports system, where city and provincial teams have been accused of fielding overage players to win tournaments in order to secure government funding.

A report carried on the Chinese Website of Sports Illustrated magazine yesterday (www.sichina.com), but posted on the reporter's blog (mengxiaowan.blog.sohu.com) last week showed a high school identity card carrying the name "Yi Jianlian," and birth date October 27, 1984 - three years older than the NBA player's official birth date.

The boy in the photo attached to the identity card, dated October 20, 1997, also bears a resemblance to the player.

The report quoted residents and teachers in Yi's hometown in southern China, and in Shenzhen, his long-time place of residence, who cast doubt on the player's age.

China's basketball administration said it was looking into the report but added it would "take time."

"If there is any result we will inform the media," Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) spokeswoman Xu Lan said. "Our principle on this issue is clear and consistent: we are strongly against age faking."

The CBA earlier this month announced it had discovered 26 players who had inaccurately registered their ages playing in the top flight league this season.

However, it said it would not hand out punishments or release the names of the players because the problem was in the past.

It passed the results of its probe to world governing body FIBA, who could invalidate China's results in international tournaments with age restrictions if any of the 26 players had taken part in the games.

The report has raised howls of indignation from Chinese Internet users, many of whom denounced the reporter for trying to stir up trouble.

"You're just boring. Yi Jianlian just wants to play good basketball. Is the difference between '84 and '87 so important?" asked one post on the reporter's blog.

Some media yesterday demanded Yi respond to the allegations, with one state-run newspaper saying the scandal could "destroy" him.

"If the birth date really was 1984, then (Yi's) most pressing task is to make a heartfelt apology for his past 'dishonesty,'" the Beijing News said in a commentary.

(Agencies via Shanghai Daily December 23, 2008)