China announces national basketball squad, without Yao

The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) announced the men's national squad early on Friday morning when Yao Ming was excluded due to a season-ending foot injury.

Yao sustained an injury in his left foot in Houston Rockets' 108-94 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on May 8. Team doctors said he had to rest for 8-12 weeks.

The newly Chinese team was formed for the 2009 Asian Men's Basketball Championships slated for August 6-16 in Tianjin, China.

"We don't expect Yao Ming to be ready in August. He needs at least two months to nurse the injury and another month for a full recovery. I don't think he can make it (for the championships)," said Hu Jiashi, vice president of the Chinese Basketball Management Center, on Friday.

Most of the members of the 2008 Beijing Olympic

Games were registered in the new national team. The 34-year-old Guo Shiqiang was named the head coach of the team last week.

The CBA announced a backup national team on Wednesday, which Hu said, concluded most of the young stars of the domestic league.

"Players of the second national team have chances to make into the first team, if they work hard enough," Hu said. "We set up a backup national team in 2007 when three of the team made into the first team eventually. It's a good way to help the young players being mature and being ready for bigger assignments."

"Both teams are the preparation for the 2012 London Olympics. The final squad for the Olympics will be selected from members of the two teams," Hu added.

The squad:
Yi Jianlian (New Jersey Nets), Zhu Fangyu, Wang Shipeng, Du Feng, Chen Jianghua (Guangdong), Yi Li, Hu Xuefeng (Jiangsu), Wang Zhizhi, Wang Lei (Bayi), Zhang Qingpeng, Li Xiaoxu (Liaoning), Liu Wei (Shanghai), Ding Jinhui (Zhejiang), Zhang Songtao, Sun Yue (Beijing Aoshen).