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Yao set to announce retirement
By Ni Yinbin |
July 20, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Chinese basketball star Yao Ming is expected to officially announce his retirement and his future plans this afternoon in a live broadcast to the country.
Yao's press conference, planned for 2pm at a hotel in the Pudong New Area, has attracted more than 100 media organizations, both domestic and overseas, Yao's management team said yesterday. Nearly 300 reporters have been accredited to attend the restricted event.
Sports channels of Shanghai Television Station's G-Sport and China Central Television's CCTV-5 will both spend an unprecedented five hours on special coverage of Yao, including the live broadcast of the press conference.
Shanghai-born Yao played eight seasons for the Houston Rockets in the United States' National Basketball Association, but has missed 250 regular season games during the last six years because of injuries.
His career, including frequent appearances for the Chinese national team at the Olympics and world championships, has been plagued by leg and foot injuries.
Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets, is also expected to attend the news conference. The NBA in an unusual move, gave the green light to Morey to attend Yao's news conference despite the rules of an NBA lockout that prohibit team officials from contacting players.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Basketball Association has planned a retirement ceremony for Yao next Monday, said Sina.com yesterday. Yao's teammates from the national team are expected to attend.
Reports have been circulating for nearly two weeks that the 30-year-old star would retire, but the Rockets have not commented due to the NBA lockout. Neither did Yao or his management team.
Yao's contract with the Rockets expired at the end of last month, and the team had expressed interest in re-signing him if he came back healthy. Yao said in April in China that his professional future depended on his recovery from a stress fracture in his left ankle.
The 2.29-meter Yao will remain a busy man after retirement. He owns a basketball team in Shanghai, along with a foundation, and is also a large shareholder of two companies, one of which recently had its initial public stock offering in Shenzhen.
The top overall pick in the 2002 draft, Yao averaged 19 points and 9.2 rebounds over his career and was selected eight times to the NBA All-Star team. More importantly, his impact expanded the NBA's influence in Asia into more merchandise sales and TV ratings.
Yao had played six years with the Chinese national team before joining the Rockets, and was already a star in China. After his rookie season, Yao helped the Rockets reach the playoffs in the next two seasons.
He played in 77 games in the 2008-09 season, when Houston reached the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1997. But Yao broke his left foot in a playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers, and underwent complex surgery that sidelined him for the entire 2009-10 season.
He lasted only five games into last season, before breaking his left ankle, which was operated on in January.
Yao's press conference, planned for 2pm at a hotel in the Pudong New Area, has attracted more than 100 media organizations, both domestic and overseas, Yao's management team said yesterday. Nearly 300 reporters have been accredited to attend the restricted event.
Sports channels of Shanghai Television Station's G-Sport and China Central Television's CCTV-5 will both spend an unprecedented five hours on special coverage of Yao, including the live broadcast of the press conference.
Shanghai-born Yao played eight seasons for the Houston Rockets in the United States' National Basketball Association, but has missed 250 regular season games during the last six years because of injuries.
His career, including frequent appearances for the Chinese national team at the Olympics and world championships, has been plagued by leg and foot injuries.
Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets, is also expected to attend the news conference. The NBA in an unusual move, gave the green light to Morey to attend Yao's news conference despite the rules of an NBA lockout that prohibit team officials from contacting players.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Basketball Association has planned a retirement ceremony for Yao next Monday, said Sina.com yesterday. Yao's teammates from the national team are expected to attend.
Reports have been circulating for nearly two weeks that the 30-year-old star would retire, but the Rockets have not commented due to the NBA lockout. Neither did Yao or his management team.
Yao's contract with the Rockets expired at the end of last month, and the team had expressed interest in re-signing him if he came back healthy. Yao said in April in China that his professional future depended on his recovery from a stress fracture in his left ankle.
The 2.29-meter Yao will remain a busy man after retirement. He owns a basketball team in Shanghai, along with a foundation, and is also a large shareholder of two companies, one of which recently had its initial public stock offering in Shenzhen.
The top overall pick in the 2002 draft, Yao averaged 19 points and 9.2 rebounds over his career and was selected eight times to the NBA All-Star team. More importantly, his impact expanded the NBA's influence in Asia into more merchandise sales and TV ratings.
Yao had played six years with the Chinese national team before joining the Rockets, and was already a star in China. After his rookie season, Yao helped the Rockets reach the playoffs in the next two seasons.
He played in 77 games in the 2008-09 season, when Houston reached the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1997. But Yao broke his left foot in a playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers, and underwent complex surgery that sidelined him for the entire 2009-10 season.
He lasted only five games into last season, before breaking his left ankle, which was operated on in January.
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