YAO MING

BEIJING (AP):

HOUSTON ROCKETS' centre Yao Ming will likely return to duties with China's national basketball team in a series of Beijing Olympic warm-ups later this week, newspapers reported yesterday.

Yao has a "very high" chance of playing in China's three games at the Stankovic Cup Olympic warm-up in the eastern city of Hangzhou, Hu Jiashi, deputy director of the Chinese Basketball Association was quoted as saying.

China's first game is against Serbia today, with further games scheduled against Angola and Russia.

Yao's fitness for the next month's Olympics is a cause of great concern for organisers ever since he suffered a stress fracture to his left foot in February, ending his NBA season and threatening his star turn as part of China's team.

He returned to light training late last month after saying X-rays and an MRI scan taken in Houston showed his recovery was on schedule, with the foot about 80 per cent healed. The remaining 20 per cent usually takes a year to fully heal.

Intense pressure

"This is the biggest, weightiest opportunity of my life," Yao told a news conference upon his return. "Intense pressure goes hand-in-hand with major competitions."

Calls to Chinese team handlers and the basketball association rang unanswered yesterday.

However, the newspaper Titan Sports cited an unidentified member of the Chinese coaching staff as saying Lithuanian-born coach Jonas Kazlauskas would likely ease Yao back into the Chinese line-up, using him first as a substitute to allow time to readjust to the team's rhythm.

The Chinese men's team is drawn in a tough group at the Olympics, facing the United States in its first game. They are joined by defending world champions Spain and Angola, with the remaining two teams in the six-team Group B to be determined by this week's qualifying tournament in Greece.