A grand jersey retirement ceremony in the history of Chinese basketball appeared at the Dongguan Bank Basketball Center last night, and the owner of the jersey is named Yi Jianlian, the "No. 9 rookie" who has played professional basketball for 21 years.
In the CBA regular season of the Guangdong men's basketball team's home match against Zhejiang East Sunshine Medicine last night, after a fierce battle, the Guangdong team successfully reversed its opponent and won three consecutive victories. After this game, the legend of an era came to an end - Yi Jianlian's jersey retirement ceremony was held.
Photo courtesy of Xinhua News Agency.
The song "Sea and Sky" played, and in the "MVP" shouts of the fans, Yi Jianlian, the "No. 9 rookie", watched his No. 9 jersey slowly rise in the Dongguan Bank Basketball Center, and he also officially opened the "second half" of his life. Albert said emotionally: "I hope that the majority of fans can support the Guangdong team, the CBA league, and Chinese basketball as they did with me." ”
Late at night on August 29 this year, 36-year-old Yi Jianlian announced his retirement on social platforms, officially ending his 21-year professional basketball career. On September 15, Yi Jianlian held a retirement ceremony in Guangzhou with the theme of "Yi Sheng's Love, Yi Sheng's Thanks", and the four major centers of the "Great Wall of China" Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi, Battle and Yi Jianlian were in the same frame, triggering infinite memories. At that time, the Guangdong team said that in the new season of the CBA League, a grand jersey retirement ceremony will be held for Yi Jianlian at the home of the Dongguan Bank Basketball Center to thank him for his dedication to the team and express respect for him. On December 7, the Guangdong team officially announced that it would hold a retirement ceremony for Yi Jianlian's jersey at the Dongguan Bank Basketball Center on December 29. December 29 is the day when Yi Jianlian made his first appearance in the CBA for the Guangdong team, and he was replaced by head coach Li Chunjiang in the game against the Jilin team, and got 2 points and 3 rebounds in 9 minutes, and officially stepped on the CBA, and last night was the 21st anniversary of his CBA career debut. In addition, I don't know if it was a coincidence or destined, the opponent of the Guangdong team on the day of the United Arab Emirates' jersey retirement ceremony was the opponent of the last game of his career - Zhejiang East Sunshine Pharmaceutical Team. Previously, the Guangdong team specially negotiated with the Zhejiang East Sunshine Pharmaceutical Team to advance the game originally scheduled for December 30 by one day, just to let Yi Jianlian hold his No. 9 jersey retirement ceremony on such a special day, and the other party generously agreed.
Photo courtesy of Xinhua News Agency.
Thanks to Dongguan, the 'basketball city' that dares to be the first, the love of basketball here is deeply infectious. Thank you Guangdong Hongyuan Basketball Club, thank you for my youth and my dream to meet you. This is where my career started and I'm lucky to end here. In the personal retirement ceremony held in Guangzhou on September 15, Yi Jianlian expressed his gratitude to the "basketball city" Dongguan and the champion Hongyuan Club, "One person, one city, I also have a clear conscience." And you have also given me 7 championships and countless honors in return. During this period, he also unconditionally supported me to bravely embark on the journey of pursuing my dream in the NBA, which made me stronger and more confident. It was a very valuable experience in my life. ”
Dongguan Bank Basketball Center has been carefully prepared in terms of venue layout before the game. A huge poster of Yi Jianlian hangs above the stadium, and the entire stadium is covered with red No. 9 jerseys, symbolizing Yi Jianlian's exclusive jersey number. Hongyuan Club and Dongguan Bank Basketball Center Arena also spent a lot of effort to decorate the scene like a carnival party, which also highlights Yi Jianlian's status and influence in the Chinese basketball world. Combined with a packed crowd of 16,500 spectators, the ceremony was the most luxurious and spectacular jersey retirement ceremony in CBA history. From last night, the No. 9 jersey belonging to Yi Jianlian will be hung in the home stadium from now on.
Photo courtesy of Xinhua News Agency.
In addition to Yi Jianlian's parents, there are also singer Pan Wilber, actor Zhang Yishan, track and field star Su Bingtian, in addition, Yao Ming, Li Chunjiang, Li Nan, Battle, Li Qun, Zhou Peng, Wang Shipeng, Sun Yue, Chen Jianghua, Su Wei and Zhao Rui who came on crutches, and many basketball players, including Zhou Qi, also sent blessings to the "big brother" Yi Jianlian on social **.
Yao Ming, chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association, delivered a speech, in addition to expressing his respect and blessings to Yi Jianlian, he also said: "I want to thank the city of Dongguan for the honor of witnessing Yi Jianlian's career, and thank the city and the club for cultivating Yi Jianlian. In addition, Yao Ming also told a small story, he said that on the way by plane, some fans asked him to bring a message to Yi Jianlian: "Big brother is very handsome, I hope to be handsome all the time!."Yao Ming's words also caused a joyful laughter from the fans at the scene, and he also sent blessings to his former teammates: "I hope to hear your story in the Chinese Basketball Hall of Fame in the future." ”
Yi Jianlian shared the story of his basketball career along the way, he said that he made his professional debut 21 years ago, and he felt very surprised at the time, because it was the first day to arrive at the team and was arranged by head coach Li Chunjiang to play. And Li Chunjiang ridiculed that it was the wrong talent to let Yi Jianlian play, "At that time, it was the first time to change Yi Jianlian in the game, because I changed the wrong person." The UAE also specially thanked Dongguan as a basketball city: "At the end of 2002, I came to Dongguan for the first time, entered the big family of Hongyuan, personally felt the atmosphere of Dongguan basketball city, and experienced the development of Dongguan for more than 20 years. ”
Accompanied by the song "Glorious Years", Yi Jianlian's No. 9 jersey slowly rose at the home of the Guangdong team, and the fans also shouted "MVP" and "Thank you". At this time, the UAE could no longer control his emotions, his eyes were moist, his voice was choked, and he bowed to the fans to express his gratitude.
The Hongyuan Five Tigers composed of Yi Jianlian, Zhu Fangyu, Du Feng, Wang Shipeng and Chen Jianghua teamed up again, and under the coaching of former coach Li Chunjiang, they played a 5-minute friendly match with the current young generation of Hongyuan players. Accompanied by the melody of "Can't Say Goodbye", the legendary No. 9 of Chinese basketball waved goodbye to the home court he was most familiar with.