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Friday, March 7, 2008
Yao Ming’s left foot raises chorus of Chinese protest
A foot has never been so noisy.
Ever since Houston Rockets center Yao Ming — China’s first superstar NBA player — was diagnosed with a season-ending stress fracture in his left foot last month, Chinese fans have struggled to make sense of the injury.
China’s leading sports newspaper, Titan Sports, editorialized that “exhaustion was really the major reason for Yao’s injury” and coaches should have allowed him to rest more during games, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Other Chinese have worried that Rockets have underestimated the importance of Yao’s participating in this summer’s Olympics, the first time China has hosted the Games.
“It’s probably hard for some Americans to understand how important the motherland means to Chinese,” a sports commentator wrote in the Global Times, a state-run newspaper. “For Yao Ming, the calling from his nation is more important than his job in the NBA.”
On Tuesday, the Rockets said that an operation on Yao’s foot was successful. But officials have admitted the injury could leave him benched during the Summer Games — a possibility that seemed to stun some Chinese.
“Yao Ming’s injury is because he’s been used too much by the Rockets and the Chinese national team,” a Chinese blogger wrote on one popular Web site. “But since it has happened, all we can do is pray.”
