Brunei actor played against Yao Ming

By Zhang Jin (Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-08-10 16:56

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei: Bruneian Chinese actor Wu Chun said he was interested in investing in a basketball club, as he recalled a match against Yao Ming in their teens.

Wu Chun

"It (Investing in a basketball team) is a pretty good idea, and perhaps one day I will buy one," the businessman-turned actor told China Daily in an interview on Aug 9, without elaborating.

Wu, 30, is an ardent fan of basketball legend Michael Jordan. He still remembered the result of the game between Brunei and China at an Asian tournament for teens in the Philippines.

"It was 126:28, we lost," he said. "I was 14 or 15 then." Wu played against China's two most powerful giants - Yao Ming, now NBA Houston Rockets center, and Wang Zhizhi, a former NBA player who is now the center of Bayi Shuanglu Rockets of China.

"The Chinese players were so tall, and all rebounds were theirs," Wu said.

During the match, a much smaller Wu had to confront Yao, because Wu was already one of the tallest of his team. No record on the three's heights at the time was available.

Wu is now 1.83 m tall, compared with Wang's 2.14 m and Yao's 2.26 m. But Wu still managed to be the top scorer of his team at that match, with 10 points, a performance "already handsome enough", he said. China won the title of the tournament that year.

Wu said sports have become part of his life and bring him business opportunities. Wu earned his first bucket of gold, B$1,000 ($700), at the age of 14 by organizing a basketball tournament in Brunei. He now runs two gymnasiums in the Southeast Asian nation and plans to open the third in January.

Wu said he was approached by some investors to launch gymnasiums on the Chinese mainland.

"I will invest in big cities," he said, naming Shanghai as a possible place.

A member of Taiwan pop band Fahrenheit, Wu gained an initial success after he played a part in Taiwan idol TV drama Tokyo Juliet in 2005. TV drama Hanazakarino Kimitachihe, adapted from a Japanese cartoon in 2006, made him a star in the Chinese community.

In both dramas, Wu acted a student. His first movie Sword Butterfly, based on a Chinese classic romance, was put on show last year. His second movie, 14 Blazes, has been completed. The starring includes Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen and mainland actress Zhao Wei. The movie tells a story of special government agents in the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) and Wu acts a judge.