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| Chinese bastketball star and Shanghai native
Yao Ming of NBA's Houston Rockets answers a question during a news
conference in Shanghai October 12, 2004, ahead of the first ever NBA
games to be held in mainland China.
(Reuters) |
Yao Ming is back in his hometown on business. And that's exactly the
point for the NBA, which is eyeing all sorts of marketing possibilities in
a country of 1.3 billion.
Yao and the Houston Rockets face the Sacramento Kings in an exhibition game Thursday, and
Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy intends to limit his 7-foot-6 center to 22-28
minutes because of the grueling months ahead.
But Van Gundy still hopes to showcase Yao during the first game between
NBA teams in China, where basketball has taken a higher profile since Yao
became an international star.
"I know he wants to play very, very well here and I want to give his
fans the opportunity to see him play," Van Gundy said Tuesday. "I want to
play him because he's in his hometown. But I don't want to overplay him,
given that it's only the second exhibition game and we have a long season
ahead of us."
Yao played 17 minutes in the Rockets' preseason game Sunday at home
against Shaquille O'Neal and the Miami Heat. He joined Tracy McGrady and
the rest of the Rockets in a light workout
Tuesday at their hotel health club.
A practice at the Shanghai city gym was called off because of problems
getting the team's luggage. A regular practice was scheduled for
Wednesday.
"I'm here on business and I want to play well," said Yao, who was
selected for Shanghai's youth team at age 14 and later played for the
Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese professional league.
Houston's games against the Kings come 25 years after Wes Unseld and
the former Washington Bullets visited Shanghai to play the Chinese
national team. While soccer remains popular among all sectors of Chinese
society, basketball has become the sport of choice among teenage boys and
men in their 20s.
Shanghai has refurbished
the 10,000-seat city gym that was built in the days of Mao Zedong's
1966-76 Cultural Revolution, putting in an NBA regulation floor, giant TV
screens and additional dressing rooms and office space.
The NBA visit is part of a recent wave of Western sports coming to
China, where economic growth is creating millions of new consumers.
Formula One racing debuted in Shanghai in September, and China already is
gearing up for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
(Agencies) | 
