Yearender: The year of Yao in Chinese basketball

BEIJING -- An extraordinary triumph came on an ordinary Sunday night in Seoul, as team China beat South Korea 92-81 in the preliminaries of the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

Nearly half of the guests' starters were absent from the game including Houston Rockets' center Zhou Qi. But youngster Sun Minghui scored 21 points, three rebounds and four assists, while Abdusalam contributed 15 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and three assists to secure the victory for China.

However, only one year ago, it would have been nearly impossible for Abdusalam and Sun to wear the national team jersey.

"I thought it was fake news when they told me I am in the national team," said Abdusalam. But the dual national team system created by Yao offered them the chance to train with (and later become) China's best players.

An entirely new system has two teams led by a double-coaching system consisting of Du Feng and Li Nan playing in different international competitions before they merge into one in 2019 to prepare for the 2019 FIBA World Cup and the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

And this is just one of those bold policies adopted by the newly-elected Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) president, a man who needs no introduction, Yao Ming.

Though he put on the orange Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame jacket in 2016, 2017 is an even more remarkable year for Yao. After an unanimous vote in February, he became the first-ever non-governmental personage to take the presidency of the CBA.

In July, he was elected as the chairman of the board of the CBA company that owns China's top basketball league. His Hall of Fame glory, it turned out, was just a new start to his career, as Yao became the spearhead for China's basketball reform effort.

In part of a bigger reform triggered in China's sports system, professionals, like Yao Ming and Jenny Lang Ping, began to play important roles in sports associations. Take basketball as an example, where the reform saw the tasks of an administrative center of basketball, a sub-division of the State General Administration of Sports, transferred to the CBA, which means the association will take on full responsibility for governing the sport in China.

When the transition is completed, the association will be responsible for the management of national teams, leagues, youth development as well as the development of basketball in society.

"This is a great step on the road to reforming Chinese basketball. Meanwhile, we must realize that we still have a long way to go," said Yao.