Houston Rockets centre Yao Ming is back in China to consult with traditional Chinese medicine practitioners over his foot injury, AP says, and the prospect of his absence is "sparking a panic" in China. Even without him, Yao says China will finish in twelfth position in the worst case scenario. Also, he is expected to be one of the torch-bearers when the Games finally open this August, but for now Yao can't get anywhere without his crutches.

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Yi Jianlian's season just ended early, too.
I am not optimistic about his coming back before the games. Anyway, Chinese man's basketball team will never have a chance to grab gold medal. so what's a big deal?
I'm sure it will be arranged for China to be seeded against the world's worst teams until it reaches the playoffs, then friendly officiating should take care of games against teams like S. Korea, Oz, Russia, Argentina, Italy, Serbia, Greece, THOSE JAPANESE and definitely the Americans.
Yao wouldn't have been much help, he's MJ compared to the rest of the national team but the talent gap is so huge that he'd collapse from exhaustion.