Pink Panda, the favored halftime acrobat identified for balancing bowls on her head whereas perched excessive on a unicycle, is again residence after falling and breaking her left wrist whereas performing on the Commissioner’s Cup ultimate between the WNBA’s Indiana Fever and Minnesota Lynx in Minneapolis.
Driving on her custom-made unicycle no less than 7 toes off the ground, Pink Panda fell ahead off her seat early in her routine, landed onerous on the court docket on her behind and instantly grabbed her left wrist.
Video footage reveals her being helped to her toes and taking quite a few steps with help earlier than sitting again down on the court docket. A wheelchair was ultimately introduced out to assist her off the ground.
Pink Panda, whose actual identify is Rong Niu, suffered a damaged arm greater than a decade in the past after falling backwards off her unicycle whereas working towards.
“Red Panda wants me to thank all of you for the kind wishes and support,” Figley wrote. “It means the world to her. She much appreciates from her heart the support she is receiving.”
Figley stated Pink Panda spent 11 hours in a Minneapolis hospital beginning Tuesday night time whereas a process was carried out on her wrist. Docs beneficial that she see an orthopedic surgeon for additional restore, he stated.
Two Lynx employees members stayed with Pink Panda the whole time she was within the hospital, he stated, and the crew mascot drove the acrobat to the airport afterward and helped her get checked in for her flight residence to San Francisco.
“The folks were wonderful to her and she really appreciates everyone,” Figley wrote.
Pink Panda performs at halftime throughout a Clippers-Pelicans recreation on Jan. 5, 2024, in New Orleans.
(Tyler Kaufman / Related Press)
Born in Taiyuan, China, reportedly within the early Nineteen Seventies, Pink Panda is a fourth-generation acrobat who was first employed to carry out throughout halftime at an NBA recreation by the Los Angeles Clippers in 1993. She has since been a staple at NBA video games and quite a few different athletic occasions, together with her signature routine of utilizing her toes to flip bowls onto her head whereas balancing excessive on her unicycle.
Niu suffered a damaged arm greater than a decade in the past after falling backwards off her unicycle whereas working towards.
At Sport 5 between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder final month, Pink Panda gave a fast record off the highest of her head of all of the NBA Finals at which she has carried out. It was intensive.
“Oh my God,” she stated. “I did it for L.A. I did it for Chicago Bulls — that’s many years ago for the [Michael] Jordan years. And then, I did San Antonio, I did Boston, Warriors, Detroit. … And now I’m in OKC.”
With out the providers of injured celebrity Caitlin Clark for the third straight recreation, Indiana defeated Minnesota 74-59 to win the Commissioner’s Cup, the WNBA’s in-season event, for the primary time. As Fever guard Sydney Colson live-streamed the gamers’ locker room celebration, Clark leaned in entrance of the digital camera and wished the injured acrobat effectively.
“Red Panda, we love you,” stated Clark, whose sentiments had been echoed by a number of of her teammates.
