Mentally disabled student to play with NBA stars

Ahn Jung-hoon

By Park Si-soo

A Korean student with a mental disability will play with NBA stars in a special basketball match in New York on Saturday, one day before the NBA All-Star Game.

Ahn Jung-hoon, 19, is among 12 students invited to the event. He is the only Asian that will take part, the game organizer said.

The 193-centimeter student will play as a member of East Team, whose members include retired NBA star Detlef Schrempf and disabled students from Belgium, Greece, Nigeria and Mexico.

Ahn is talented in several sports. He won a bronze medal in a floor hockey tournament in Idaho in the U.S. in 2009.

Ahn, an orphan, lives and studies at the Daniel School, a private Christian school in Seoul.

“He is very good at sports, especially basketball,” Jung Jae-myung, a Daniel School teacher, said. “He was really pleased when he was invited to the NBA event.”