China's Great Wall invades Manila

MANILA, Philippines - Remember Mengke Bateer, the man-mountain in the Chinese team who made the shaded lane difficult for the pro league-formed RP squads in the 1994 and 1998 Asian Games?

The 6’11, 209-lb Mengke, one of China’s “Great Walls” along with Wang Zhizhi and Yao Ming, blew into town to once again rekindle his ties with basketball-loving Filipinos, albeit not to “terrorize” local cagers.

The towering Mongolian center, who had stints with the Toronto Raptors, San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets in the NBA, served as special guest for the celebration of the 10th anniversary in the Philippines of TCL, the country’s fastest emerging brand for cutting edge LED/LCD, full-HD TVs.

To Mengke, the Philippines is a place he feels at home with, given their shared passion for basketball.

“I’ve been in the Philippines many times before, especially as part of the Chinese national team that played against the PBA in the 1990s. And I remember well that there were very excellent players. Of course they are all retired now,” Mengke said in Mandarin through Yi Hao, managing director of TCL Overseas Holdings Ltd.

Still playing pro ball for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers in the CBA, Mengke had a successful stint in the Chinese cage squad. Highlight was being their starting center in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, and their gold medal romps in the Asian Games, which included two semis victories over the San Miguel Beer-composed RP squad in 1994 and over the Centennial Team four years later.

He was the second Chinese to play in the NBA after teammate Wang, logging career averages of 3.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 11.6 minutes in 39 games overall.

The 34-year-old slotman said he cherishes his national team and NBA experiences the most.

“It’s a great honor to play for the national basketball team of China, especially in representing the country in the Olympics. In the NBA, it was more of a learning experience, getting to know how real basketball, pro basketball, is played,” Mengke said.

Though slower now and bothered by the Manila heat, Mengke gamely played some college ball players one-on-one during yesterday’s TCL activity at the Music Hall of SM Mall of Asia, trying to thwart the speed and agility of Kirby Lucente of Adamson, Arvie Bringas of Far Eastern and Robin Roño of National U. The youngsters all managed to score the required three points against Mengke in a two-minute time limit.

“They have very good skills,” he described the three cagers while stressing the need to develop more good young players to make sure there won’t be a vacuum in talents if the present stars retire.

Mengke’s appearance, mini-basketball clinic and sports promotion highlighted the anniversary celebrations for TCL, which also showcased its state-of-the-art entertainment solutions such as the LED TV, 3D TV and the Internet TV, along with new NaturaLIGHT technology that promotes a “Healthy TV Viewing Platform.”