Feature: Li Meng chases basketball dream despite challenges

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Feature: Li Meng chases basketball dream despite challenges

2020-10-22 19:18 Last Updated At：19:19

China's women's basketball national team player Li Meng remains headfast in chasing her dream, despite facing several hurdles along the way.

The path to pursuing her basketball dream started from the age of five, despite her coaching labelling her as "too small". In her twenties, Li suffered anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures to both knees within six months.

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Li Meng

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Li Meng

But the 25-year-old Chinese international just kept it rolling towards her basketball dream.

"Because I love it," she told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

Li was hailed for her sporting talent at a young age, and her parents wanted her to take up a sport, so they brought her to a swimming class when she was four years old.

After swimming for just one year, Li often suffered from painful ear ache, so her mother took her to see a doctor.

"Do not let your child swim again, as she may get otitis media due to her ear's constant exposure to water," the doctor said.

Her mother finally gave up hope of Li becoming a future swimming star. She heard about a basketball class from a friend, and decided that her daughter should give that a go.

"When the coach saw me, he immediately refused as I was only five years old then. From his viewpoint, such a young kid could not hone anything. But my mom persuaded the coach to give me a chance. As you see, I've persisted in playing basketball until now," Li recalled.

Li immediately fell in love with basketball. "At five years old, I never knew what it would bring me. But after I took it up and was involved in it, I found a passion for the game."

Li rose to fame at the FIBA U17 Women's Basketball World Cup in 2010. She averaged 15.4 points and 6.2 rebounds as China claimed the bronze medal. Her stellar performance earned her the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award at the competition.

"I was taking photos with teammates at the ceremony, and suddenly heard my name called and received the trophy. I didn't realize how important it was until my coaches informed me after I returned home."

Li began to look ahead to her professional career. But the darkest days of her basketball career arrived, when she ruptured the ACL in both knees in less than six months.

"When I was injured for the first time, I was not quite worried about it. But then I got injured again, I began to think about it seriously," Li revealed.

She told her mother she wanted to stop playing basketball and go to school.

But following her coaches' persuasion, Li decided to persist with her life-long dream.

Li made her professional debut in the 2012-13 Women's Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA) season.

"You can be successful in the youth leagues with good skills. But in the pro league, you have to know how to spur your teammates on with your character and strength."

China punched its ticket to the Tokyo Olympic Games this February, which carried more weight as China was already battling against the COVID-19 outbreak.

Li was the driving force in China's successful qualification campaign, and again won the MVP award.

"It is my dream (to play at the Olympics), and my responsibility to represent my country. It also boosted everyone's confidence during that special period," she noted.

Li believes the postponement of the Olympics will offer the team more preparation time, while calling for the team to maintain its training level and match fitness.

"Getting an Olympic spot is not our destination. We have to fully prepare for the Games. We have to review and see if there are some weaknesses, whether in mentality, condition or technique. Hopefully everyone can make some improvements before the Olympics," Li commented.

After missing out at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Li expressed her anticipation towards the Games in Tokyo.

"I will strive to win an Olympic medal. This is also the team's target," she said.

Due to her outstanding physical quality and all-around performance, Li is dubbed "LeBron Meng" in China, in reference to her idol and NBA megastar LeBron James.

"Mentally he (James) has a huge impact on me. He can step up anytime when the team needs him. I have a big gap from him, but I will spare no effort to get closer to him," Li said.

Li, who recently signed an agreement with world-renowned sports brand Nike, said it reflected the brand's recognition towards her, while pushing her to work harder in future training.

"Now more and more people are following women's basketball. We are also getting better to make more people realize our value," she commented.

"I'm on a road of challenging myself. I have a lot to improve on," said Li, who received a contract from Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) side Minnesota Lynx last year, but decided not to go overseas to better prepare for her national duties.

"No matter in the national team or club, I always target the top of the podium," she added.

Investigation is opened into managers of Swiss bar where fire killed 40

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — Swiss authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the managers of the bar where a fire at a New Year’s party left 40 people dead, authorities said Saturday.

The two are suspected of involuntary homicide, involuntary bodily harm and involuntarily causing a fire, the Valais region's chief prosecutor, Beatrice Pilloud, told reporters. She said the investigation was opened on Friday night and that it would help “explore all the leads.” The announcement of the investigation did not name the managers.

More than 100 other people were injured in the blaze that broke out around 1:30 a.m. on Thursday at Le Constellation bar in the Alpine resort town of Crans-Montana. Police have said many were in their teens to mid-20s.

The process of identifying the dead and injured continued on Saturday, leading to an agonizing wait for relatives.

Investigators said Friday they believe sparkling candles atop Champagne bottles ignited the fire when they came too close to the ceiling of the crowded bar.

Authorities planned to look into whether sound-dampening material on the ceiling conformed with regulations and whether the candles were permitted for use in the bar. Officials said they also would look at other safety measures on the premises, including fire extinguishers and escape routes.

The Valais region’s top security official, Stéphane Ganzer, told SRF public radio Saturday that “such a huge accident with a fire in Switzerland means that something didn’t work — maybe the material, maybe the organization on the spot.” He added: “Something didn’t work and someone made a mistake, I am sure of that.”

Nicolas Féraud, who heads the Crans-Montana municipality, told RTS radio he was “convinced” checks on the bar hadn’t been lax, the broadcaster reported.

Asked whether the tragedy could have been avoided, Swiss Justice Minister Beat Jans replied that officials could not yet answer and "we know that the world needs an answer on this question.”

The severity of burns has made it difficult to identify the dead and injured, requiring families to supply authorities with DNA samples. In some cases, wallets and any identification documents inside were turned to ash.

On Saturday, regional police said the bodies of four victims — a boy and a girl, both 16, an 18-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman, all of them Swiss — had been identified and handed over to their families.

Several injured people still haven't been identified.

Laetitia Brodard, whose 16-year-old son, Arthur, went to Le Constellation to celebrate the New Year, held out hope that he might be one of them.

“I’m looking everywhere. The body of my son is somewhere,” Brodard told reporters Friday evening. “I want to know where my child is and be by his side. Wherever that may be, be it in the intensive care unit or the morgue.”

On Saturday, she told French broadcaster BFM TV that “we, parents, are starting to get tired ... and anger is starting to rise.”

“It’s a wait that destroys people’s stability,” said Elvira Venturella, an Italian psychologist working with the families. “And the more time passes, the more difficult it becomes to accept the uncertainty, not having information.”

Swiss officials said Friday that 119 people were injured and 113 had been formally identified.

On Saturday, Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, told reporters he had just been briefed by local authorities that the number of injured stood at 121, with five not yet identified. He said 14 Italians were being treated in hospitals.

Cornado acknowledged "a lot of stress,” but said it was right for authorities to share information only when it is “accurate and 100% sure.”

Ganzer, visiting the site along with Jans, called the families' wait “unbearable,” and said officials' top priority was providing them the "legitimate answers they are waiting for.”

Swiss police have said the injured included more than 70 Swiss nationals and over 10 each from France and Italy, along with citizens of Serbia, Bosnia, Luxembourg, Belgium, Portugal and Poland.

Mourners and well-wishers bearing flowers flowed to makeshift memorials outside Le Constellation, some consoling one another with hugs as they shed tears. “RIP you are all our children” one handwritten note said.

Geir Moulson and Stefanie Dazio in Berlin and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.