China’s star basketball player Yao Ming says he is banking on his baby daughter to motivate him to overcome injury and return to the court to hopefully win an NBA championship.
The injury-prone 30-year-old Houston Rockets center is recovering from a broken foot that kept him out of most of the 2010-2011 NBA season and is awaiting word from doctors on whether he will be able to play again.
“She is definitely a big motivation for me to continue my role as a player, although my foot still needs lots of treatment to meet the game’s demands,” the China Daily on Tuesday quoted Yao as telling state television. “I wish she could watch me play and even win a championship as she grows up and not only see through video highlights how her dad played before.”
Late last month, Yao brought his one-year-old daughter Amy to China for the first time and bought a new home in Shanghai, signaling a possible end to his NBA career.
On Friday last week, new Houston new coach Kevin McHale said he hopes the 2.26m center is able to return from injury and extend his playing days.
“We would all be really happy if Yao comes back to play and I hope he can,” McHale said. “He will give it his best shot. His body is going to dictate if he can come back and play. That’s all going to be laid out in the future.”
Yao played only five games last season and underwent surgery in January for a stress fracture in his left ankle, the latest in a series of injury setbacks that have dogged him in recent seasons.
With perennial All-Star Yao only playing a limited role, the Rockets have missed the playoffs the past two seasons.
Yao’s contract expires on June 30 but Rockets owner Leslie Alexander has said he would like to have Yao back if he is able to continue his NBA career.
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS
REUTERS, DALLAS
New Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson said on Tuesday he would “not tolerate excuses” when he takes the reins of the struggling franchise.
Jackson, 46, was hired on -Monday to replace Keith Smart, who went 36-46 in his only season as the Warriors’ coach.
The former NBA guard conceded he would “love to have size” on his team, but added that they could still win without a dominating presence in the paint.
Jackson, who will join the team at the conclusion of the NBA Finals where he is serving as a television analyst, said most teams do not have the height of Dallas’s seven-footers, Tyson Chandler and Brendan Haywood and would need to find other ways to win games.
“I would be sitting here lying to you if I said that size does not matter,” he told reporters before Game 4 of the NBA finals between Dallas and the Miami Heat. “It certainly matters, but I’ll play lawyer, exhibit A, Tyson Chandler, Brendan Haywood. Everybody else is minimum size. So no more excuses.”
“Find a way to go out there and get it done by any means necessary. We will not tolerate excuses,” Jackson said.
Jackson said the Warriors, who have made the playoffs just once since 1994, already have some pieces in place that can reverse the fortunes of the struggling franchise.
“We have a great rebounder in David Lee, one of the best in the business,” he said. “We have guards with tremendous athletic ability on the offensive end, which tells me you can go get some rebounds. Collectively we will find a way to get it done.”
Taiwanese gymnast Tang Chia-hung on Sunday topped the men’s horizontal bar event at the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) World Cup in Osijek, Croatia, scoring 15.233 to take his third title this season. Tang delivered an outstanding performance in the final, earning a difficulty score of 6.500 and an execution score of 8.633 with a 0.1 stick bonus. His closest competitor was Milad Karimi of Kazakhstan, who finished second with 14.933 points. It was Tang’s third gold medal in the FIG World Cup series this year, following his horizontal bar wins in Azerbaijan on March 8, and in Turkey on March
This year’s Taiwan Athletics Open, which offers Taiwanese athletes an opportunity to compete against their international peers, would be held under a new name after its organizers had earlier announced the event’s cancelation. In a statement issued yesterday, the Chinese Taipei Athletics Association said the competition would still take place on June 6-7 at Banciao Stadium, but under the name “New Taipei City Athletics Open 2026.” The event was given a new name to emphasize its local identity and conform with the international practice of naming World Athletics Tour events after cities, the association said. It said it would soon
Taiwan’s Lee Hao-yu on Friday went 0-for-3 in his MLB debut for the Detroit Tigers against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, becoming the 19th Taiwan-born player to reach the big leagues. The Tigers ultimately lost 1-0 in 10 innings, ending their six-game winning streak. The 23-year-old started at third base and batted eighth for Detroit. He was promoted from Triple-A Toledo ahead of the four-game series against the Red Sox at the latter’s home stadium, replacing injured utility player Zach McKinstry. “Being right-handed, and given our schedule, I think six of the next 12 games are going to
Denmark’s double Olympic badminton champion Viktor Axelsen, long a rival of Taiwan’s former world No. 2 Chou Tien-chen, yesterday announced his retirement at age 32, saying back problems meant he could no longer “compete and train at the highest level.” Axelsen, who won gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and again in Paris in 2024, had back surgery in April last year and said he had not overcome his physical issues. “Accepting this situation has been incredibly difficult,” he said in a statement. “But I have now reached a point where my body won’t allow me to continue.” Axelsen retires as one
RSS