Meet China’s ‘one-armed basketball boy’: Teenager who lost his limb to an accident aged five has taught himself to shoot hoops and even wows NBA stars with his incredible skills
- Zhang Jiacheng, 13, stunned NBA superstars with his dazzling basketball moves
- The teenager from Guangdong lost his right arm aged five due to an accident
- Videos show the one-armed boy swiftly dodging opponents and shooting hoops
- NBA players including Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard were amazed by Zhang
A 13-year-old Chinese boy who lost his right arm in an accident at the age of five has stunned NBA superstars including Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard with his dazzling basketball skills.
The self-taught teenager, Zhang Jiacheng, became an internet sensation after footage of him swiftly dodging opponents with superb dribbling moves amassed tens of millions of likes.
Stephen Curry, a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player, urged his 4.5million followers on Chinese Twitter-like Weibo to help him locate Zhang after he was astonished by the boy’s amazing talent.
A 13-year-old Chinese boy who lost his right arm in an accident at the age of five has stunned NBA superstars including Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard with his dazzling basketball skills
Stephen Curry (pictured), a two-time NBA Most Valuable player, urged his 4.5million followers on Chinese Twitter-like Weibo to locate Zhang after being amazed by the boy’s amazing talent
Curry wrote today: ‘Who is this kid? Help me find him! Keep doing you and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t. #StayUnderrated#’
Zhang was born in Yunfu, Guangdong province of southern China, and lost his limb in an accident aged five.
Despite his disability, Zhang has never stopped pursuing his passion for shooting hoops since first learning to play in 2018.
Mr Huang, the boy’s agent, told MailOnline that Zhang had attended some basketball lessons, but mostly taught himself to play.
His amazing skills came from years of tirelessly training, Mr Huang added.
The self-taught teenager, Zhang Jiacheng, became an internet sensation after footage of him swiftly dodging opponents with superb dribbling moves stunned tens of millions of people
Zhang was born in Yunfu, Guangdong province of southern China and lost his limb in an accident aged five. The 13-year-old boy is pictured here playing basketball with an opponent
Other NBA players such as Damien Lillard and PJ Tucker were also blown away by Zhang’s basketball skills.
‘Keep it young man,’ Tucker commented under one of Zhang’s clip on the Chinese video-sharing platform Douyin while Lillard replied: ‘Handles.’
‘Heart is always the strongest part of the body,’ wrote Chinese basketball star, Yi Jianlian, after watching the clip of the teenager.
Curry Thursday wrote on his account on Chinese Twitter-like Weibo ‘Who is this kid? Help me find him! Keep doing you and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t. #StayUnderrated#’
Other NBA players such as Damien Lillard and PJ Tucker were also blown away by Zhang’s basketball skills. The screenshots show the comments left by those two NBA stars
Videos of Zhang playing basketball have amassed tens of millions of views across Chinese social media platforms.
‘I didn’t even realise he had only one arm when I first watched the video,’ one commenter wrote.
Another said: ‘Hard work makes dreams come true. He is living his unique life to the fullest.’
Zhang said that he was overwhelmed by the support and praise he had received.
‘I’m really excited that even NBA stars commented,’ he said in a video today. ‘Thank you guys for your support. I will keep studying and training hard.’