Chinese basketball fans and officials were yesterday desperately hoping that a serious foot injury to star center Yao Ming (
The Houston Rockets center has a stress fracture in his left foot that will end his NBA season, his team said on Tuesday, and could even threaten his key role in the Beijing Olympics.
An official at the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) said yesterday that Yao will have surgery on his foot as soon as possible, although the national team already have plans to tackle the Olympics without him.
PHOTO: AP
"A preliminary decision has been made [for Yao] to undergo surgery after a comprehensive analysis by doctors, the team and Yao himself," the CBA said in a statement posted on media portal Sina.com.
CBA deputy head Hu Jia said China already had a contingency plan in place for a Yao-less Games campaign.
"Two years ago, we planned two sets of tactics, including one with Yao and one without him. Now we will focus more on tactics and training without Yao," Hu said.
The Rockets said the six-time NBA all-star was expected to be sidelined for three to four months, and only then would be begin full rehabilitation training.
That would leave Yao with only a month or two to regain match fitness for the Games from Aug. 8 to Aug. 24, a tight schedule for the man who China hopes will lead his team to a basketball medal.
China's Titan sports newspaper quoted Yao as saying he was crushed that his NBA season was over but that he believed he would be able to compete in Beijing.
"His only consolation was that the injury would not cause him to miss out on his dream of playing in the Olympics," it said.
However, Chinese state television quoted Yao as saying that after the injury he had concerns about his participation in the Olympics.
Failure to represent China in the Olympics would be the "biggest loss of my career," he was quoted as saying.
Chinese basketball fans filled blogs with anxious sentiments.
"This is like a lightning bolt," wrote a blogger on the popular Chinese-language portal sina.com. "We now all have to hope that he can be fully recovered before the Olympics."
Yao said in September China's Olympic medal hopes looked dim unless the team shaped up and improved on poor form last year.
Also See: NBA: Miami snap 11-game losing skid
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS