SHANGHAI, China (AP) - China's official sports association has issued an unprecedented public criticism of Yao Ming for reporting late to national team training.

The Houston Rockets' star was faulted for taking too much time off to recover from his last NBA season, as well spending too much time planning his wedding and making appearances for the Special Olympics and 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

"No matter how lofty public welfare activities are, they can't be allowed to take first place in a player's life," the China Sports Daily, a newspaper owned by the government's All-China Sports Federation, said in an article Tuesday.
"No matter how sweet personal life is, it can't be compared to the exultation of capturing glory for one's nation," the article said.
Chinese Web sites later said Yao reported for national team training on Wednesday.
The article quoted the national basketball center director Li Yuanwei saying the team's Olympic preparations were built around their major star. Li said he hoped Yao would join the team later this month in the Stankovic Cup.
"Without Yao Ming, a warmup competition is far less valuable," the article said.
Throughout his three seasons in the NBA, Yao has largely escaped criticism from China's official media and the government by honoring his national team commitments.
Yet Tuesday's article carried echoes of the bitter accusations hurled at former Dallas Mavericks player Wang Zhizhi, the first Chinese player in the NBA, who refused to return to play with the national team. Wang was labeled an immature ingrate and suffered an five-year estrangement from Chinese basketball that ended only last year after he made a humiliating apology. China's other players were "flinging sweat like snow" while Yao recovered from the season, said the article, which also criticized Yao's handlers for not realizing his market value drew largely from his uniqueness as a Chinese player.

China will face an All-Star team from the NBA Development League in the Stankovic Cup at home, where the host team will include recent draft pick Yi Jianlian.
The Milwaukee Bucks picked Yi with the No. 6 pick in the NBA draft, but he hasn't committed to playing for them because his agent hoped he would be drafted by a team in a market with a larger Chinese population.
Chinese fans and the former national coach have urged Yi to sign with the Bucks, but the owner of his former team in China, the Guangdong Tigers, recently suggested the 7-foot (2.13-meter) power forward's NBA career could be over before it even begins. "If the Bucks insist, Yi will go back" to the Chinese league, Chen Haitao was quoted as saying in Tuesday's Chinese-language Beijing News.

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/7034974

bah...communists....

I am getting really tired of these Chinese people talking bad about there players, they're just thinking about themselves, they're saying that winning the championship for there country is more important then marriage and stuff, that's just ridiculous, they need to get off there high horse, and let them make there own decisions.

Yeah. In China, the players are the "property" of the teams/organizations. They cannot make their own decisions because they're techinically "working" as an athlete. You can't defy your boss. They could get no paychecks or be kicked off the team, and since playing basketball is what they've been doing since they were 5, they really have no other skills and must obey.

This really applies to every other sport being played in China to my knowledge.

That's just pathetic. China's team sucks with or without Yao. Your wife is supposed to be more important than dribbling a ball and trying to put it through a hoop.

They tell Yi Jianlian where he can't play. Now they start questionning Yao Ming's priorities. This is getting out of control. But like Oxy said there's not much those two can do except listen to what they say. But somethings are more important then Basketball, and you can put marriage on this list.

See there's a lot of American players that refuse to play for the Olympic team because they have things to do in the off summer, like there getting married, or they just played to much during the regular season, and you don't the American government criticizing them or telling them they have to play, no we get more players. The Chinese government should mind there own business and let there players make there own decisions.

China Daily -
Houston Rockets ' All-star center Yao Ming says he has been treated unfairly in an unprecedented attack by the country's official sports newspaper, China Sports Daily.

The newspaper of the General Administration of Sports on Monday hit out at Yao for "being privileged" and taking too much time off to recover from injury.

"No matter how lofty public welfare activities are, they can't be allowed to take first place in a player's life," the paper added, citing Yao's recent promotion of the Special Olympic Games in Shanghai. "No matter how sweet personal life is, it can't be compared to the exultation of capturing glory for one's nation."

"I know Chinese law protects people's right of speech but I feel this is unfair on me," Yao told China Daily in Beijing. "I entered the national team at the age of 18 and have competed for the national team for 10 years. I promise I have played with 100 per cent focus every year. The team are witnesses to my improvement and also my commitment."

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ar...chinese_media/

"No matter how sweet personal life is, it can't be compared to the exultation of capturing glory for one's nation."

communism.....