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Zhang Wenqi was born in Shanghai in December 1972 and is 2.01 meters tall. Because the head is relatively large, fans affectionately call him "big head".
He attended the No. 5 Primary School on Jiangsu Road in Shanghai and was selected to join the school baseball team in the third grade. After that, the physical education teacher thought that he was too tall to play baseball, but he saw that he was also a "material" for sports, so he recommended him to the Changning District Amateur Sports School, and was suddenly favored by the basketball coach, and since then he has embarked on the road of basketball and accompanied him all his life.
He only practiced in the amateur sports school for two years, he was selected for the basketball team of the municipal junior sports school, entered the municipal youth team in the third grade of junior high school, promoted to the first team in 1990, and after the 1993 Seventh Games, the Shanghai men's basketball team did not enter the final round, the team personnel was greatly adjusted, and Zhang Wenqi served as the main force.
In the National Men's Basketball League in April 1995, the Shanghai men's basketball team lost to the Air Force United Aviation Team led by Liu Tie in the final, and still failed to break into the First Division.
Layup against Gates
In the following three years, the Shanghai men's basketball team has always struggled in the second division, and rushing into the A League is the primary goal of the Shanghai team. Zhang Wenqi grew up very fast, trained hard, and honed his skills. From a person who was carried by others to play, it developed into a pillar of talent who took others to play.
Before 1995, Zhang Wenqi played center in the team, and from 1996 onwards, he changed to playing the second center and forward position, his range expanded to the three-point line, and he also practiced the ability to shoot.
Breakthrough beijing shougang team Chen Lei
In January 1996, the Shanghai Oriental Men's Basketball Club was established, which straightened out their minds and sent them fresh blood from the institutional and economic point of view.
In the Sichuan Chengdu National Men's Basketball League B this year, the Shanghai Oriental Men's Basketball Team began to hire foreign aid, and the old coach Wang Chongguang brought Back Andrei Maltsev from Russia. The result lived up to expectations, Maltsev has been playing with the whole team in the second division, and Shanghai defeated Ma Jian's Hebei team in the semi-finals and rushed into the first division with Sichuan. Zhang Wenqi and the Shanghai team he led were ready to show their fists and feet on a bigger stage.
In the 1996-97 CBA Serie A, the team brought in two internal and external supporters, Liang Da and Lithuanian foreign aid Saulius. Zhang Wenqi has an excellent performance in defense and long-range shooting in the case of strong reinforcements, and Zhang Wenqi's progress is inseparable from his usual hard training. He set himself the training goal of shooting 300 three-pointers a day, and he had to shoot more than 75 percent.
In the first year of entering the CBA, they achieved a good result of 6th place as a dark horse.
Before the 1997 Eighth Games, the Shanghai Oriental Men's Basketball Team adjusted a number of old players, adding Yao Ming, Liu Wei, Jia Xiaozhong and several other new players, and Zhang Wenqi became the captain. On the field, he communicates with new and old players and foreign aides, and outside the arena, he not only cares about the daily life of young players, but also cares about the trivialities of the lives of foreigners and domestic aides.
Zhang Wenqi said that as a captain, the burden on his shoulders is very heavy, not only to play well himself, but also to implement the coach's intentions on the field. Sometimes impatience often occurs and affects the whole team.
Second from the right, Zhang Wenqi
In 1998, Zhang Wenqi was selected for the national team with Yao Ming, who was less than 20 years old. Since that year, Zhang Wenqi has also reached the peak of her personal career and participated in the Asian Games in Bangkok. He then participated in the 1999 Fukuoka Men's Basketball Asian Championship and the 2001 Shanghai Men's Basketball Asian Championship, both of which won the championship.
As an excellent striker, Zhang Wenqi has both attack and defense. His sharp, tough and daring style of play on the offensive end makes him more impactful and deterrent on the court. In addition, his three-point performance is heroic, which can be described as full of firepower. At the defensive end, he is also not ambiguous, and his active and fierce defense has become one of Zhang Wenqi's personal characteristics.
The team reached the finals for two consecutive years in the 1999-2001 season, but lost to Bayi and finished second. In the 2001–02 season, he once again reached the finals, facing the Bayi team for three consecutive years.
This year's finals can be said to be the most exciting battle in the history of the CBA finals.
In the first game, Yao Ming scored a terrifying statistic of 49 points on 21 shots, and the Shanghai team still lost by 125:127, a two-point difference. After that, the Shanghai team won 2 consecutive games and ushered in the match point.
Break through Zhang Jinsong's defense
Game 4 was particularly intense, with Zhang Wenqi, as the captain, playing all 48 minutes, scoring 27 points and 7 rebounds, and he did his best to fight with Yao Ming and his teammates. The final 1.7 seconds were scored by foreign aid Hart to win the game 123:122, thus winning the only championship in the history of the Shanghai team.
With Yao Ming's move to the NBA, the strength of the Shanghai team was greatly reduced. Zhang Wenqi, who is over 30 years old, waits for the growth of new players and has been supporting the team. On January 5, 2007, during a match against Zhejiang, Zhang Wenqi, who had already scored 10 points, slipped on the ground on one side before the end of the second quarter, causing a torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee. At this point, the season was reimbursed, and his career came to an end.
It is worth mentioning that Zhang Wenqi is the first domestic player in the history of the CBA to get 3 doubles. In 1997-98 he scored 23 points, 10 rebounds and 10 steals in one game. That's right, 10 steals. Although there was an element of luck, at that time, the league still used a full 40-minute game time, and it was already very powerful to get such data.
On November 30, 2012, the 40-year-old Zhang Wenqi ushered in another highlight when the Shanghai team held a jersey retirement ceremony for him and Yao Ming, and his No. 6 shirt hung above the stadium along with Yao Ming's No. 15 shirt. The slogan of "big head mold" resounded in the Yuanshen Gymnasium, which was a great affirmation for Zhang Wenqi.
After retiring from the military, Zhang Wenqi began her career as a coach and successively served as the coach of the Shanghai men's and women's basketball youth team. Today, he is the assistant coach of the Shanghai men's basketball team.
Zhang Wenqi is still contributing to the basketball cause in Shanghai, and he hopes to cultivate more basketball talents for the Shanghai team and create brilliance again.
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