CHINA: BASKETBAL - Chinese basketball star Yao Ming joins other NBA players in campaign for AIDS awareness in China

Yao Ming and other NBA stars play basketball with children infected with AIDS as part of the Basketball without Borders outreach programme in Shanghai. Houston Rockets centre Yao Ming joined NBA players and coaches on Sunday (July 8) to promote AIDS awareness in China as part of the basketball league's outreach programme, "Basketball without Borders". The players and coaches were introduced to more than 40 children infected with AIDS across China as organisers briefed them about the AIDS situation in the country. The event was organised in conjuction with "Basketball without Borders", as the players traded their skills with the children on the court, aiming to create awareness for the plight of these children. Yao was joined by NBA players such as Golden State Warriors centre Adonal Foyle and LA Lakers guard Sasha Vujacic at the event, as the players took time off from a basketball training camp with youngsters to have fun on the court with the children. Yao was instantly the centre of attraction as the children took turns to take photographs as well as get autographs from China's biggest basketball star. At the event, he urged more athletes to take up worthy causes to contribute to Chinese society. "When our country groomed us into basketball stars, we were using taxpayers' money. We should contribute something back to our society. I feel that we have not done enough, and it will never be enough. We have a few athletes who are participating in such activities, but I feel we need more people involved in this. We have to be a role model, to be someone worth looking up to," he said. Besides trading skills with the children, the players and coaches will also participate in a life skills seminar on HIV/AIDS with youngsters participating in the basketball training camp. Ken Legins, the chief of the HIV/AIDS section of UNICEF China, praised the sportsmen on their participation in the event. "The other reason that sports is important is that sports is about teamwork. And one of the main things that we need to do in the fight against HIV and AIDS, is that we all need to work together to tackle this epidemic. And we need to learn the facts on AIDS, we need to share them with our peers and we need to care about people," he said. Chinese basketball star Yao Ming had recently given his name to a campaign to combat stigma against HIV/AIDS in China. The the 7ft-6in (2.29m) Yao, will join Chinese actor Pu Cunxin, to be pictured on AIDS awareness posters to be distributed throughout China. China has an estimated 650,000 people living with HIV or AIDS and experts say the disease is moving into the general population and spreading ever faster, with the fight against the virus hampered by widespread discrimination and ignorance. The UN poster campaign, which includes the slogan "HIV/AIDS will not affect our friendship", aims to promote inclusion of those with HIV in their workplaces, schools and families. The posters will be printed in Chinese, Tibetan, Uighur and Jingbo, a language used in the southwestern province of Yunnan, which is among the provinces with the greatest prevalence of the disease.

ITN Source | July 10, 2007

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