Category Archives: Sports

Asian Heritage Athletes in America Feature: Yao Ming

  By Gavin Chen Yao Min, born in Shanghai, China on September 12, 1980, is a Chinese professional basketball player who became one of the most dominant centers in the NBA. Standing at an imposing 7’6” and weighing 310 pounds, … Continue reading

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Asian Heritage Athletes in America Feature: Nathan Chen

  By Gavin Chen Nathan Chen, born in Salt Lake City, Utah on May 5, 1999, is a Chinese American world-renowned figure skater who earned the nickname “Quad King” for his unmatched ability to execute multiple quadruple jumps—jumps with four … Continue reading

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Asian Heritage Athletes in America Feature: Shohei Ohtani

By Gavin Chen Shohei Ohtani, born in Oshu, Iwate, Japan on July 5, 1994, is a Japanese professional baseball player known for his ability to bat and pitch. Standing 6’4 and 210 pounds, Ohtani was a highly anticipated prospect in … Continue reading

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AAPIs (and some Asian Canadians) in the 2024 Paris Olympics: A Retrospective

After watching the 2024 Paris Olympics which closed last week, I definitely felt that AAPI athletes had a high profile. That led me to decide to create this retrospective on AAPI (and some extent, the Asian Canadian) presence in the … Continue reading

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US Table Tennis Gains visibility during the Paris Olympics

US Table Tennis, a sport in the US that has faces many struggles and in which the US has never medaled, has gotten a huge lift in visibility during the Paris Olympics.  This viral video from the day of the … Continue reading

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ESPN’s 30 for 30: ‘American Son’ – Tennis Great Michael Chang – Premieres July 29 7 ET

Before there was Jeremy Lin, there was Taiwanese American tennis great Michael Chang. Probably most 8Asians readers don’t remember or even know the name, but he is a tennis and Asian American legend as upcoming ESPN documentary notes: ““American Son” … Continue reading

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Sunny Choi and other AAPI to watch in the Paris Olympics

The Wife, Brother-in-law, and I watched the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony last night, and what struck me as cameras panned over the Team USA boat was that there were a fair number of Asian faces. We have talked about gymnasts … Continue reading

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Asian Americans Gymnasts in the Paris 2024 Olympics: Sunisa Lee, Asher Hong, Leanne Wong, and Tiana Sumanansekera

A number of Asian Americans are representing the US in Gymnastics at the 2024 Paris Olympics.  2020 Olympic all-around Champion Sunisa Lee is returning.  Stanford Gymnast Asher Hong is on the men’s Squad.  Leanne Wong is a travelling alternate while … Continue reading

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CAAMFest 2024: “Home Court” – The Basketball Journey of Ashley Chea

Director Erica Tanamachi, Producer Jenn Lee Smith, Executive Producer Diane Quon, and Writer/Editor Jean Kawahara Home Court was one of the CAAMFest 2024 films I was most excited to screen: “Ashley Chea is a Cambodian American basketball phenom. Home Court, … Continue reading

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Leanne Wong: Student, Entrepreneur, and Possible Olympic Gymnast

1) Pre-med student 2) business owner 3) college gymnast trying to make it into the Olympics – Leanne Wong is all three! I first learned about her story from this ESPN article. She is an elite level gymnast, having achieved … Continue reading

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Filipina American Basketball Player Kayla Padilla makes it to the NCAA Elite 8

It seemed strange yet very cool to see an Asian American woman basketball player in a NCAA Division 1  game televised on national television.  It was not just any game – USC guard Kayla Padilla was playing in a NCAA … Continue reading

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Golden State Warriors 2024 Lunar New Year Celebration Night

Lunar New Year is a big deal in the San Francisco Bay Area, and it’s also a big deal with the Golden State Warriors. I couldn’t make the celebration night last year, but did back in 2022. This is the … Continue reading

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