7-foot-4 Chinese teenager Zhang Ziyu is getting comparisons to Yao Ming

A 7-foot-4 adult is rare. A 7-foot-4 14-year-old is unheard of.

Enter Zhang Ziyu, a teenage girl from East China’s Shandong Province, after a video of her notching 42 points, 25 rebounds and six blocks in an under-15s tournament game went viral.

In the highlights, Ziyu towers over her helpless opponents, easily securing uncontested rebounds and scoring wide-open layups.

Commenters quickly compared Ziyu – who was 5-foot-2 in the first grade and 6-foot-9 in sixth grade, according to the Global Times – to former NBA star and fellow Chinese basketball player Yao Ming, who was 7-foot-6.

The 40-year-old Ming was selected to play in eight All-Star games and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016 after averaging 19.0 points and 9.2 rebounds in 486 regular-season games.

Zhang Ziyu
Twitter

Like Ming – both of his parents were former professional basketball players – Ziyu comes from a basketball family. Her mother, Yu Ying, played on China’s national women’s basketball team, and her father played professionally as well.

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