(Reuters) – Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kyle Anderson has obtained Chinese citizenship through naturalisation, the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) said on Monday.
The 29-year-old forward from New York is the latest elite athlete to gain Chinese nationality through naturalisation and the first basketball player to do so.
“(Anderson) obtained Chinese nationality this morning and met Yao Ming, chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association,” the CBA said in a post on its official Weibo account.
Citizenship could potentially allow Anderson to play for China at the FIBA World Cup that tips off on Aug. 25 in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia, as well as at the Olympic Games in Paris next year.
FIBA allows teams to have one naturalised player on their roster. Chinese media reported Anderson’s maternal grandmother was born in Jamaica to a Chinese father and Jamaican mother.
China had previously announced an 18-man squad for the World Cup, but FIBA said the final rosters will be confirmed only after a technical meeting that is set to take place before the start of the tournament.
Other athletes who were naturalised include several Brazilians who moved to China in the hopes of playing international football.
Former Arsenal and Brentford midfielder Nico Yennaris, who was born in England, became the first overseas-born player to be called up for China’s national team in 2019.
At the time, the Chinese Super League was also the go-to destination for football players looking for lucrative contracts.
It is unclear if Anderson and the others have renounced their original nationality. China has strict rules that usually prevent dual nationality for its citizens.
(Reporting by Martin Pollard in Beijing and Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Jamie Freed)
