Chinese center Yao Ming said Tuesday that his
national colleagues should not let slip from their mind the lessons they drew at
the World Men's Basketball Championship in Japan.
China's Yao Ming sits
on the bench during their match against Greece at the world basketball
championships in Saitama August 27,
2006.[Reuters] |
Yao, set to leave for the Houston
Rockets for the upcoming NBA season, helped China advance to the knockout stage
of the recently-concluded basketball championship.
"Our CBA (China Basketball Association) players should remember about the
tournament and draw lessons from it," Yao told the state-owned CCTV (China
Central Television) sports channel Tuesday.
"It is hard to do pioneering work but it is even harder to keep the
accomplishments. We have a good start, and I hope they never dump what they have
learned from the championship in the less competitive CBA league."
The Chinese men's team reached the last 16 at the championship but only found
them thrashed by European champions Greece 95-64 in the first knockout round on
Aug. 27.
Domestic media said after the game that the Chinese players are unable to
match foreign players in physical quality, tactics and will to succeed.
Yao, who had said during the Japan campaign that Chinese basketball was like
making a cart behind closed door, suggested more players go abroad to collect
more experience.
"As the 2008 Olympics are drawing near, we should send abroad the likes of Yi
Jianlian and Wang Shipeng as soon as possible in a bid to raise our level in
short term.
"Even our basketballers fail to play as regulars, we still could benefit at
least from their training sessions. I myself played as substitute ten minutes
per game initially, too. It depends on your will and work."
But it is impossible for the domestic clubs to send their key players to
foreign leagues due to the demand to national success, admitted Yao.
It will serve as expedient for the Chinese side to see over 30 international
games of high level while training in Europe next spring, deputy-director of the
Chinese Basketball Administrative Center Hu Jiashi told the China Sports Daily
on Sept. 1.
Yao, the leading player who scored an average of 25.3 points in his six games
at the championship, was the only current NBA player from China.
His national teammate Wang Zhizhi, the first Chinese player to play in the
NBA, returned home recently after four years of exile in the United States. He
will rejoin the Chinese military club, the Bayi Rockets in the upcoming CBA
season.
Chinese players will go in for club competitions which kick off in October
before they are called up once again at the end of November for the Asian Games
basketball events, which Yao will skip.
