Yao Ming wants Clipper's Wang Zhizhi on national team
Los Angeles Clippers' Chinese center Wang Zhizhi (l) jostles for position for a rebound with Houston Rockets' Chinese center Yao Ming. AFP PHOTO/Lucy NICHOLSON
BEIJING (AFP) NBA Houston Rocket sensation Yao Ming has asked that his former teammate Los Angeles Clipper Wang Zhizhi be invited back to China's national basketball team, but so far the state's crusty sports officialdom is not willing to listen to the star player.
"The Clippers have finished their season so I really hope that big Wang can come back this summer and join the national team so that the two of us can play together," Yao told Friday's Titan Sports.
"With him we have two big men with an inside and outside game that no team in Asia is even close at matching," the 2.26-meter (seven-foot-six) center said.
China's newly named national team is expected to gather in Beijing early next month to prepare for the Asian Basketball Championships which will be held in September in northeastern Harbin city, Heilongjiang province.
Wang's name has been left off the group of 16 players, but the list did include San Antonio reserve center Menk Bateer, China's third player in the NBA.
The team needs to win the championship if it wants to participate in next year's Athens Olympics.
The 2.11-meter Wang hoped to play for the national team at last summer's World Basketball Championships and the Asian Games, but was kicked off for refusing to return for some three months of training before the tournaments.
Instead, the former national team standout trained in a NBA summer league where he eventually won a 3.3-million-dollar contract with the Clippers.
Without Wang, China put in dismal performances at both events and lost the Asian Games crown to South Korea, as a tug of war among the sports officials raged in Beijing over Wang's alleged lack of patriotism and loyalty to the nation.
Players, however, almost unanimously voiced support for Wang's inclusion on the team, while also saying the long-winded training left them exhausted.
"I know (Wang) likes to score, but that doesn't matter to me, I'm more than happy to rebound for him," Yao said.
"What would be even better and what I really hope is that all three of us NBA players can come together again underneath our country's flag."