New Delhi, India

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kyle Anderson attained Chinese citizenship through naturalisation on Monday (July 24). As per reports in the Chinese media, the basketball player's maternal grandmother was born in Jamaica to a Chinese father and a Jamaican mother. The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) confirmed the development. With this, the 29-year-old forward has become the latest elite athlete to acquire Chinese nationality through naturalisation. He is now the first-ever basketball player to do so.

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The CBA said via a post on its official Weibo account, "[Anderson] obtained Chinese nationality this morning and met Yao Ming, chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association." With the new citizenship, Anderson is now eligible to represent China at the FIBA World Cup -- which gets underway on August 25 in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia -- and also at the Olympic Games, which will take place in Paris next year.

It is to be noted that FIBA has given the green signal to teams to have one naturalised player on their roster.

While China announced an 18-man squad for the World Cup, FIBA had made it clear that the final rosters will be confirmed post a technical meeting ahead of the tournament. Thus, it will be interesting to see if Anderson will make the cut in the Chinese squad and further strengthen their line-up.

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Also read: Women's World Cup: Minnows Philippines keen to play Ferns in front of New Zealand fans

Apart from Anderson, there have been several athletes who were naturalised, including many Brazilians who moved to China in order to fulfil their dreams of playing international football. Former Arsenal and Brentford midfielder Nico Yennaris, who was born in England, was the first overseas-born player to become a part of China's national soccer team in 2019.

It will be interesting to see if 29-year-old Anderson joins the Chinese squad ahead of the World Cup and how the striker adapts to a new team environment.

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The FIBA World Cup will kick off on August 25 and conclude on September 10.

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