AP News, August 6th, 2007
NBA star Yao Ming is getting married at an upmarket Shanghai hotel Monday in front of 100 relatives, with an equal number of security guards expected to work the event, media reported.
After the ceremony and dinner at the five-star Shangri-La Hotel, the newlyweds and their guests will cruise the Huangpu River in a luxury houseboat, the Titan sports newspaper reported. The wedding cost about $130,000, the paper said.
No teammates, coaches or basketball officials will be at the nuptials, the Beijing Morning Post reported. However, 100 security guards would be on hand.
The 7-foot-6 Houston Rockets center and his bride, Ye Li, received their official marriage certificate on Friday. Widely circulated photographs showed the couple in tuxedo and off-the-shoulder gown having their wedding portraits made at a scenic resort in eastern China last week.
Ye, 26, who is 6-foot-2, plays on China's national women's basketball team.
Titan reported that Yao, 26, and his bride will go to Beijing on Tuesday to take part in festivities celebrating the one-year mark until the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games.
While in Beijing, the couple will host a dinner for members of China's men's and women's basketball teams, the Oriental Morning Post reported. Players told the paper they were still trying to figure out what gifts to give Yao and his wife.
Last month, China's official sports association issued an unprecedented public criticism of Yao for reporting late to national team training.
He was faulted for taking too much time off to recover from the NBA season, as well spending too much time planning his wedding and making appearances for the Special Olympics and Beijing Olympics.
