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Expelled basketball star Wang makes humble return

(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-04-10 16:24

China's first NBA star, expelled from the national team for skipping the 2002 Asian Games, made an apologetic return on Monday as the country seeks to reconcile with "problem stars" ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Wang Zhizhi, China's first NBA star.

Wang Zhizhi, who paved the way for Chinese NBA players Yao Ming and Menk Barteer when he signed for the Dallas Mavericks in 2001, was welcomed back with open arms by the China Basketball Administration, the same body that expelled him from the national team.

The three became known as China's "Great Wall" in the NBA.

"We have always placed importance on and cherished talent," a CBA spokesman said on its official Web site on Monday.

"The door of the national team has always been open to those excellent athletes willing to pay back the motherland."

The 28-year-old former player and army official with the Ba Yi Rockets military team publicly apologized at the airport for turning his back on China.

"At the time I was young and immature," he was quoted on the CBA Web site as saying.

"Because of this, I made a very wrong decision.

"Through these years of painful reflection and with the help of leaders of the army and the CBA, I have deeper recognition of the mistakes I've made in the past."