根据短文内容，选词填空。

A. child    B. joined    C. star     D. Asia    E. playing

Yao Ming is a famous basketball . He was born in Shanghai in 1980. He is 2. 26m tall. As a , he was taller(较高) than the other children. When he was young, he was good at basketball. In 1997, he the Shanghai Sharks. In 1998, he joined the Chinese National team. In 2000, he joined the All-Star team of . In 2002, he went to the US. He joined the Houston Rockets.