When Yao Ming's NBA season with the Houston Rockets was cut short, that injury was felt by all of China, as that government is demanding top results from its national teams in the upcoming Beijing Olympics, which very much includes the men's basketball team led by Yao.
Well, the 7-foot-6 star appears to be progressing toward playing in the August Games, although that depends on what you read.
Newspaper reports around China have suggested Yao had been cleared to play in the July 17-20 Stankovic Cup at Hangzhou, China, which features Iran, China, Russia and Angola. But Tuesday, a top official of China's national basketball team says no decision has been made as to whether Yao will play in that Olympic warm-up tournament.
"We'll discuss it when Yao Ming gets back to China," Bai Xilin, team manager of China's national team, said Tuesday. "He'll be back before the end of this month."
Yao's agent, John Huizinga, said his client is a ways away from being cleared to play."He's doing great," Huizinga said. "The reports that he's been cleared to play are not correct. The checkups have been very good. But it's much too early for him to be cleared. He has a series of check points to continue to go through. It's too early for him to be cleared, but he was never scheduled to be cleared at this point.
"Everything is going very well. If he is cleared, he might have a chance to play, but it is much too early to talk about that schedule now."
Yao said recently that he hoped to return to China to join national team workouts late this month. He has just begun contact workouts in the past few days. He says he won't leave for China until cleared by Rockets doctors.
Yao had surgery on his left foot after suffering a stress fracture on Feb. 27. He was having his best season with the Rockets, averaging 22 points and 11 rebounds.
China opens the Olympic tournament against the United States. Bet on all the events at WagerWeb.com.
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