In 2004, Yi was listed as being born in 1984 in China's Four Nation Tournament,[52] although Chinese officials said that it was probably a typographical error.[53] Two years later, Fran Blinebury of The Houston Chronicle reported that Yi told Shane Battier he was 24 in an exhibition game before the 2006 FIBA World Championship,[54] although the story was refuted by both Yi and Battier.[55][56] Yi is not the first Chinese player to come under scrutiny, as former NBA player Wang Zhizhi has been listed as being born in both 1977 and 1979.[57][58]
In 2006, a senior CBA official admitted that past youth squads had included players above the permitted age,[59] and Yi's longtime American teammate in China, Jason Dixon, said to Chad Ford that Yi was "21 or 22...It's pretty common over [in China] to change ages".[60] In 2007, a Chinese government registration site made public by hackers showed Yi's date of birth as being in 1984,[61] and in December 2008, a Chinese reporter discovered school registration forms that listed Yi as being born in 1984.[62]
