NBA All-star center Yao Ming scored a game-high 30 points, but failed to stop China from losing to Italy 84-69 in their opening match at the 2006 World Men's Basketball Championship kicking off in Japan on Saturday.

Trailing 39-35 after the first half, China took the lead at 48-47 as Yao had 11 points to lead a 13-11 run opening the third quarter.

Italy, however, made six three-pointers in the rest of the period for a 67-56 advantage before extending the gap to 80-64 amid the fourth.

"I have never seen a team shoot the ball so well," said Yao. "If you just spare them a half-arm distance, they can hit it."

Italy, who made eight three-pointers in the second half, went 13-for-25 from beyond the arc.

Yao admitted that the Chinese team was out of steam, especially in defense, in the second half when the Italians pulled away.

"But it's not an excuse to make," he said. "Why could our opponents hold on?"

Yao, who was playing his first competitive match since breaking his foot in April, was rested towards the end of the game.

Gianluca Basile shot 9-for-14 from the field to lead Italy with 27 points with Matteo Soragna and Luca Garri adding 14 and 10 respectively.

The Asian champions seemed nervous in the opening period of the Group D match, falling behind at 5-0. Then Yao had a dunk and a lay-up to lead a 9-0 run that gave China a 9-5 lead.

China held on the lead to 17-16 at the end of the first quarter, but the Italians opened the second with a 11-3 boost to lead again at 27-20.

China will play the United States, 111-100 winners over Puerto Rico in the first round, on Sunday while Italy takes on Slovenia.

A total of 24 teams are competing in four groups of the preliminaries with top four finishers from each group to reach the elimination round.

(Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2006)