Mongolia puts all its hopes on a 'Globetrotter'
Source: Agencies |
November 17, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE big skies and wide open spaces of the Mongolian grasslands seem an odd place for a Harlem Globetrotter to spring from, but 2.15-meter tall Sharavjamts Tserenjankhar has become used to standing out in the crowd.
Adjusting to Guangzhou's muggy climate while preparing Mongolia's basketball team to take on China at its home Asian Games yesterday may take more time, however.
"In Mongolia, you can find the purest air in the world. Here, it is humid, the air is a little smoky," Tserenjankhar, the team's 36-year-old center, said, nodding at the sepia-toned sky hanging over the Games' gleaming gymnastics venue.
A veteran of the 2002 Busan Games, Tserenjankhar, has come out of retirement to try to inspire his young team to cobble a victory or two against Group E rivals North and South Korea, Uzbekistan and Jordan.
Goal one has already been accomplished, a four-point victory over fellow central Asian Turkmenistan in a qualifier.
Part of what he describes as "probably the tallest family in Mongolia", Tserenjankhar was born to a mother who played national volleyball and father who also played basketball for Mongolia. His brother stands 2.08 meters, 22 centimeters taller than his father.
At first a high-jumper then a volleyball player, Tserenjankhar did not pick up basketball until he was well into high school but fell in love with it after NBA games started appearing on television. "I played it in the winter time when (the temperature) was in the minus 30s. Even when snow was on the ground and the ball could not bounce."
He was discovered by American former college basketball coach Dale Brown at a basketball clinic in Mongolia in 2001. Lousiana State University coach Brown, credited with bringing Shaquille O'Neal into college basketball after meeting him as a teenager at his stepfather's army-base in West Germany years before, coaxed Tserenjankhar to the United States.
Too old for college basketball, Brown secured an invitation for Tserenjankhar to play with the Harlem Globetrotters where he played around 400 games in three years and traveled the world. "It was tough but it was fun. They were very wise guys. I liked them and they liked me."
Adjusting to Guangzhou's muggy climate while preparing Mongolia's basketball team to take on China at its home Asian Games yesterday may take more time, however.
"In Mongolia, you can find the purest air in the world. Here, it is humid, the air is a little smoky," Tserenjankhar, the team's 36-year-old center, said, nodding at the sepia-toned sky hanging over the Games' gleaming gymnastics venue.
A veteran of the 2002 Busan Games, Tserenjankhar, has come out of retirement to try to inspire his young team to cobble a victory or two against Group E rivals North and South Korea, Uzbekistan and Jordan.
Goal one has already been accomplished, a four-point victory over fellow central Asian Turkmenistan in a qualifier.
Part of what he describes as "probably the tallest family in Mongolia", Tserenjankhar was born to a mother who played national volleyball and father who also played basketball for Mongolia. His brother stands 2.08 meters, 22 centimeters taller than his father.
At first a high-jumper then a volleyball player, Tserenjankhar did not pick up basketball until he was well into high school but fell in love with it after NBA games started appearing on television. "I played it in the winter time when (the temperature) was in the minus 30s. Even when snow was on the ground and the ball could not bounce."
He was discovered by American former college basketball coach Dale Brown at a basketball clinic in Mongolia in 2001. Lousiana State University coach Brown, credited with bringing Shaquille O'Neal into college basketball after meeting him as a teenager at his stepfather's army-base in West Germany years before, coaxed Tserenjankhar to the United States.
Too old for college basketball, Brown secured an invitation for Tserenjankhar to play with the Harlem Globetrotters where he played around 400 games in three years and traveled the world. "It was tough but it was fun. They were very wise guys. I liked them and they liked me."
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