Top News

Prodigal hoopster comes back

By Zhao Rui (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-04-11 05:51

Homecoming is always sweet.

But it was much more sweeter for Chinese basketball player Wang Zhizhi.

Wang Zhizhi receives a brief interview at home in Beijing. [sina]

"It's like a dream," said Wang, who returned home yesterday from the United States after four years and the same number of years after his expulsion from the national team.

"I miss my parents and I am so happy to be back home again."

Wang, the first Asian to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA) when he joined the Dallas Mavericks in 2001, was welcomed by the country's top basketball officials amid a media frenzy at Beijing Capital International Airport early in the morning.

"I realized I had made a big mistake. I want to say sorry to my fans and to the Bayi team which trained me and gave me the chance to play in the NBA," he said.

The Dallas Mavericks drafted Wang in 1999, and signed him on a three-year rookie contract in March 2001.

After his debut season in the NBA, Wang refused to join the national team training for the 2002 World Championships and then skipped the tournament for the NBA summer league.

The act went against the agreement the Mavericks had with the CBA, under which he had to play major international competitions for China during the NBA off-season. His status in the Chinese military also complicated the situation.

Wang was expelled from the national squad in October, 2002 after he refused to come back for the Busan Asian Games.

"I was too young to make the right decision. I hope I can make up for my fault this time and win back my place in the national team," Wang said.

Since 2002, the CBA has tried to seek Wang's return in many ways, but the efforts failed due to his attitude. The turnaround came in 2005 when Wang, who missed the Athens Games in 2004, contacted the CBA through a Chinese reporter, expressing his willingness to compete in the Beijing Olympics.