Hoops and dreams

With the sun high over the basketball court, Meme ttursunjan Erkin darted past his defender, pivoted and zipped a perfect bounce pass to a teammate. He clapped his hands, calling for a huddle.

Small in stature, he does not stand out at first glance — until one notices the gleaming prosthetic attached to his right leg.

"I just want to play like everyone else," the 12-year-old said. "When I'm on the court, I forget about my leg."

Born in 2013 in Shufu county, on the western edge of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Memettursunjan came into the world missing part of his right leg. His parents, farmers with limited schooling, were overwhelmed and unsure how to raise a child with a disability.

Memettursunjan grew up withdrawn, watching other children run and play from the window. "Walking with a prosthetic was hard. So I stayed home," he said.

Then, at six years old, he saw a video of NBA star Stephen Curry — not the tallest, not the strongest, but fearless and skillful. Something clicked.

"Basketball looked fun," he said. "It felt like someone like me could belong."

His father scraped together enough to buy a used basketball. The court, however, was unforgiving. The prosthetic chafed, his balance wobbled, and other boys ran circles around him. "I couldn't beat anyone," he said. "I wanted to give up."

But he did not.

"I cried at night," Memettursunjan recalled. "But, in the morning, I told myself: 'Real men don't quit.'"

'Pushing forward'

Outside his home, Memettursunjan tied a bent wire hoop to a tree and practiced for hours — shooting, chasing rebounds on one good leg, falling and getting back up. He learned to play smarter. If he could not outrun opponents, he could outthink them. If he could not jump, he could pass.

The work paid off. He made the school team, not as a special case, but through grit and skill.

Coach Hu Deliang still remembers a warm-up session when Memettursunjan's prosthetic leg detached in front of everyone. "He calmly picked it up, reattached it, and said, 'I'm fine, coach,'" Hu said. "He was more afraid I'd stop him from training."

Memettursunjan had found confidence. "Now I joke with my teammates, help with drills. Basketball gave me something more than a game. It gave me myself."

That confidence took him this summer to a national youth league organized by the Yao Foundation, launched by Chinese basketball icon Yao Ming. For the first time, he traveled beyond his hometown — and played in front of his basketball idols.

Former Chinese national forward Abdusalam Abdurexit, a Xinjiang native who returned from a career-threatening ACL injury to win CBA MVP, served as guest coach. "He's not waiting to be carried — he's pushing forward," Abdusalam said. "I see a bit of myself in him."

Former CBA guard Han Delong agreed: "He's tough, patient, joyful — and still just a boy. Basketball might stay with him forever, or maybe it will open other doors. Either way, he's going far."

More than 400 kilometers away in Atush, 12-year-old Kawsar Hasmjan sprints down a soccer pitch. He lost his left arm in a car accident, but his speed and field vision command attention. "Sports showed me I'm stronger than my body," Kawsar said. "It taught me I can still lead."

"What we see in Xinjiang today is hunger, energy, and talent," said Jiang Ying, a trustee of the Yao Foundation. "No child should be left behind — not by geography, not by circumstance."

Growing momentum

The journeys of Memettursunjan and Kawsar are more than personal triumphs, they are part of a broader transformation in southern Xinjiang, where grassroots and school sports are gaining momentum.

In Yecheng county, nestled between the Taklamakan Desert and the Kunlun Mountains, a basketball team composed of farmers, teachers and township workers recently made national headlines. Last year, they traveled to Guizhou province and won China's "Village BA" championship, sparking a local sports frenzy.

This April, Yecheng hosted its own invitational tournament in a packed gymnasium, backed not by major sponsors, but by local pilaf restaurants and walnut growers. The enthusiasm is built on a decade of grassroots investment.

Since 2012, Yecheng has distributed more than 300,000 basketballs to rural youths and built more than 765 courts, servicing 26 townships, 317 villages and 52 communities. In 2024 alone, it held more than 100 village-level tournaments.

In Bachu county, students at No 3 Middle School no longer chase balls on dusty fields. The school recently added more than 20,000 square meters of new sports grounds, including a seven-a-side soccer pitch.

It now employs 13 soccer coaches, five with certification from either the Chinese Football Association or the Asian Football Confederation.

In 2025, the school joined the youth training system of Shanghai Port FC, offering a professional pathway for talented players from the region.

"My dream isn't just to be great," Memettursunjan said.

"It's to keep playing, keep growing, and, maybe, help someone else do the same."

Xinhua