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BEIJING, Nov 10, 2007 (AFP) - Basketball fans here revelled in the 'China Derby' Saturday with hundreds of millions tuning into the first-ever NBA match up between home grown heroes, Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian.
The game featuring China's two most high profile players was shown nationwide on China Central Television, with 18 regional stations broadcasting it live.
"I hope one day Yi can become better than Yao, but it will be difficult for Yi to reach Yao's heights," a posting on Sina.com, a Chinese web portal, said of the match, which was played Friday in the United States.
The NBA said up to 250 million fans could watch the game, while China-based Titan Sports Weekly said more than 100 million had been expected to tune in to see the pair face off when Yao's Houston Rockets took on Yi's Milwaukee Bucks.
At a NBA-sponsored party at a Beijing bar, more than 100 fans cheered Yao's dominant play, while many were thrilled to see Yi come out in the third quarter to hit an array of outside shots and dunks.
Yao led the Houston Rockets with 28 points and 10 rebounds to a 104-88 win, and Yi scored an impressive 19 points and had eight rebounds in his best-ever NBA outing.
The two players, who are off to great starts in the NBA's 2007-08 regular season, will be teammates at next summer's Beijing Olympics.
"The hope of Chinese basketball is to see Yao and Yi become the twin towers that dominate on the world," said another posting on Sina.com, referring to China's prospects of winning a basketball medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Yi, a rookie who is expected to develop into an NBA all-star, and Yao come from different areas of the world's most populous country.
Yi hails from southern China's Shenzhen near the cosmopolitan city of Hong Kong, while Yao grew up in the eastern seaboard city of Shanghai - the son of basketball playing parents.
China's media and websites have pitted the two players in a 'China Derby,' with the giant seven-foot-six (2.26 metre) Yao clearly a fan favourite ahead of the shorter seven foot Yi.
During the game's half time, central television broadcast a feature on a 2002 match in which centres Wang Zhizhi and Menk Bateer became the first-ever Chinese players to square off in an NBA game.
During that game, Wang scored six points in nine minutes on the floor and Bateer was held scoreless in two minutes of play.
"If you compare the game between Yao and Yi with the game between Wang Zhizhi and Bateer in 2002, you can clearly see how China's basketball is improving," said basketball analyst Zhang Weiping.
"China's basketball is developing very quickly and is becoming more and more popular."
With over 300 million basketball players, the NBA has viewed China as a key area for development of the game, and has packaged Yi and Yao with corporate sponsorships that make them highly visible across the nation.
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