Yao Ming is recovering well from a broken foot and could be fit to play in August's world championships, a spokesman for him said yesterday.

Zhang Mingji of "Team Yao" said that the Houston Rockets center would start rehabilitation soon and could be training again in eight weeks.

He would return to China in June, Zhang said, two months before the start of the world championships in Japan.

The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) confirmed yesterday that Yao's compatriot Yi Jianlian would not be joining him in the NBA — in the near future at least — after withdrawing from the 2006 draft.

(Agencies via Shenzhen Daily April 27, 2006)