Yao to miss 2009/10 season after surgery

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Houston Rockets' Chinese center Yao Ming is to undergo surgery on his foot injury and has been ruled out for the whole of next season.

Yao will have surgery next week to repair the broken bone in his left foot and the Rockets said on their official site (www.nba.com/rockets) that he would have to sit out the 2009-10 season.

"While no timetable has been set for his return to action, Yao is expected to be available for the team's training camp in 2010," said the report

Last month the Rockets physician Tom Clanton described the injury to China's most famous sports personality as "career threatening."

The seven-times NBA All-Star fractured his foot during the Western Conference semi-finals against the Los Angeles Lakers on May 8.

The team said that surgery will involve a bone graft in the navicular bone of Yao's left foot in order to promote bone regeneration and there will also be treatment designed to reduce the arch in his left foot by realigning and restructuring the bones in the foot.

"This combination of procedures should not only allow healing of his navicular stress fracture, but also improve the mechanics of his foot to reduce the stress on that bone and give him the best long-term prognosis," said Clanton.

"This surgical option is similar to the successful procedure used by Cleveland Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas in 2001."

Yao averaged 19.7 points per game and 9.9 rebounds this past season.

(Reporting by Simon Evans in Miami; editing by Nigel Hunt)

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