Entrepreneur's foresight of player's fame and fortune offers great sporting chance

BEIJING - Speculative entrepreneurs in China are set to score slam-dunk style on the back of basketball player Jeremy Lin's meteoric rise to stardom.

The name of National Basketball Association's Chinese-American overnight sensation, who is now said by Forbes magazine to be worth around 100 million yuan ($15.9 million), has already been registered as a trademark by a Chinese businesswoman in 2010.

Yu Minjie, owner of a sporting goods company based in Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu province, spent less than 5,000 yuan when she registered "Jeremy S.H.L." as a trademark after watching Lin's performance in a televised NBA game. S.H.L stands for Lin Shuhao, Lin's Chinese name.

"She was impressed by Lin's talent and sensed that he would rise to fame someday," her sister, Yu Minhua, said on Wednesday.

Yu Minjie had also bought the trademark for another famous NBA player, Yi Jianlian, in 2009.

Her company is entitled to use the trademark for Lin, the New York Knicks point guard, for sportswear, accessories, balls and toys until August 2021.

Yu Minjie says she never expected Lin would be this famous and did not expect to make much of a fortune from the trademark.

But despite earlier offers to buy it, she decided to retain the right to use it.

The company is producing basketballs under the trademark "Jeremy S.H.L.", due to go on sale next month.

New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin looks on against the New Jersey Nets in the first half of their NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden in New York on Monday. [Photo/Agencies]