Basketball: Asian NBA star Yao Ming retires

SHANGHAI: Basketball star Yao Ming announced his retirement after a trail-blazing career that made him China’s best-known athlete abroad and helped spur the game’s global growth. The towering 2.29 metre star made the announcement during a press conference in his hometown of Shanghai after his last two seasons with the Houston Rockets were dogged by injuries. Yao, 30, joined the team as the first pick in the 2002 NBA draft but there was scepticism about whether the signature product of China’s massive state sports system would ever earn the affection of the league’s fans.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2011.