Video of 2.2 meter tall Chinese teenager Zhang Ziyu dominating basketball tournament goes viral

China has launched its 2.2 meter basketball cheat code onto the international stage, with Zhang Ziyu dominating proceedings at the Fiba U18 Women's Asia Cup in Shenzhen, scoring 55 points in just two games.

The 17-year-old came off the bench to make her international tournament debut on Monday and scored 19 points in just 13 minutes as her team beat Indonesia 109-50.

On Tuesday, Fiba posted a video of her performance which later went viral on social media and garnered hundreds of comments from fans around the world.

“She's going to make thousands of dollars in the WNBA,” one Twitter user wrote.

Watching Zhang dominate his opponents, one Instagram user suggested an interesting defensive solution.

“OK, it's unorthodox, but at what point does one player put another on his shoulders? ” they wrote.

The highlight video shows Zhang planting himself under the hoop, snatching the ball out of the air with barely a hop and casually placing it in, also racking up seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and three blocks.

In her second game, the center scored 36 points, along with 13 rebounds and four blocks, as China beat New Zealand 90-68 on Tuesday to maintain a 100 percent winning record in the tournament.

China faces Japan on Wednesday and Zhang will likely be the star again.

Zhang was born into a basketball family on May 1, 2007. Her mother and father played professionally in China.

Her father is 2.13 meters tall while her mother, named Yu Ying, a former member of the Chinese women's national basketball team, is 1.98 meters tall.

By the time Zhang was a freshman, she was 5 feet 2 inches tall. She then grew to 6 feet 9 inches in sixth grade, according to Chinese state media.

In 2021, she was playing in the Chinese U15 National Basketball League and went viral on Chinese social media after scoring a total of 42 points to help her team win the title.

Under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) rules, athletes must be at least 22 years old before being eligible for the draft, meaning Zhang is still a long way from the major leagues.