Yao's back, says winning race to be fit for Games

Source: Agencies  |   2008-6-27  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

Yao Ming touches his left ankle during a media conference in Beijing yesterday. The injured Chinese star should be back on court in mid-July. More in photo gallery

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NBA star Yao Ming will return to light training with China's national team today, and hopes to be ready to play in pre-Olympic warm-up games.

The Houston Rockets center's fitness has been a subject of national concern since he suffered a stress fracture to his left foot in February, ending his NBA season early and threatening his star turn as part of China's team for the Beijing Olympic Games.

A day after returning to Beijing, Yao said X-rays and an MRI taken in Houston on Tuesday showed his recovery was on schedule, with the foot about 80 percent healed. The remaining 20 percent usually takes a full year, Yao said.

"I've now done everything I can possibly do to get fit," said Yao, the most popular and highest earning Chinese athlete. "In terms of being basketball fit, the only way to do that is to play games."

With pressure on Yao to perform, some have questioned whether he would be pushing himself so hard were the Olympics not being held in Beijing.

Yao himself dismissed such speculation, saying that there were "no 'ifs' about the Olympics, there are no 'ifs' about me."

"This is the biggest, weightiest opportunity of my life," Yao said. "Intense pressure goes hand-in-hand with major competitions."

Yao said he would start light training with the national team today, giving him time to learn tactics and strategies worked out by China's Lithuanian-born coach Jonas Kazlauskas.

But Yao was not certain if he would be ready to play in the Stankovic Cup warm-up tournament in Hangzhou from July 17-20.

"It's 50-50 whether I'll play, I'm not sure," he said.

"I feel I am recovering well, though it's still difficult when I'm playing one-on-one."

The Chinese men's team is in a tough group at the Olympics, facing the United States in its first game. It also plays defending world champion Spain and Angola, with the remaining two teams in the six-team Group B to be determined by a qualifying tournament in Athens, Greece, July 14-20.

Yao said Spain and the US would be tough to beat, making it crucial to take points away from Angola and the other two teams.

"That's the best way to ensure we get into the final eight," Yao said. "I hope that's the way it goes."

Yao also announced the launch of his personal charitable foundation, saying its first projects would involve rebuilding schools and providing sports equipment and other forms of help to children left homeless by last month's earthquake in Sichuan Province.

Yao said he originally planned to wait until after the Olympics, but moved the date forward due to the immediate need for help following the 7.9-magnitude quake, in which nearly 70,000 people were killed and approximately five million lost their homes.

One item not going to charity will be Yao's specially made bed for the Olympic village. The 2.3-meter bed will be among items auctioned off after the Games.