Ming to wed

China's All Star NBA centre Yao Ming will wed his teenage sweetheart in August, after an eight-year courtship, state press reported Monday. The 7 foot 6 centre first met Ye Li in 1999 when he was playing for the Shanghai Sharks men's team and the 6 foot 3 Ye was with the club's women's team.

"This is a match based on pure love," the paper said. And by pure love they mean the Chinese government is looking to start breeding the ultimate communist basketball player.