One of the most popular acts in halftime entertainment sustained an injury Tuesday night in Minneapolis as Rong “Krystal” Niu, better known under her stage name of “Red Panda,” needed to be assisted off the court after falling during halftime of the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup championship game between the Indiana Fever and the Minnesota Lynx.
Niu has delighted basketball fans in numerous NBA, college basketball and WNBA venues since her debut in 1993. The “Red Panda” rides a seven-foot-tall unicycle while catching and balancing a large number of metal bowls on her head during her act.
Reporters for MinnPost and ESPN confirmed that Niu took a hard spill, falling from her unicycle during Tuesday’s performance. The popular performer laid still for some time, cradling her left wrist before being taken off the court in a wheelchair.
Once called “the best halftime act in basketball” by Dime Magazine, Niu retired in 2013 to support her father while he battled cancer. She practiced occasionally during this timeframe and suffered her first wrist injury.
After she mourned her father’s death due to esophageal cancer and helped her mother deal with an illness, Niu made her return in 2015 as she revealed in a “Sports on Earth” interview that she couldn’t stay away.
“I missed it,” Niu said. “The crowd. The energy. The challenge. From my heart, I feel like this is a part of my home. Although I lost my father, I still have this part of my life with me, just like before.”
–Field Level Media
