Yao Ming set for return to training in June

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Yao Ming is set to join his national team mates for full Olympic training next month as the center continues his recovery from foot surgery, local media reported on Friday.

The 7ft-6in Houston Rockets All-Star, who had an operation on a fractured foot in February, had started running at about "three quarters of his full power," the Beijing Youth Daily said, citing Chinese basketball officials.

"Presumably, he will return to China in late June," China team manager Bai Xilin told the paper. "But it all depends on the doctor's examination."

Key to China's medal hopes at August's Beijing Games, 27-year-old Yao shoulders the burden of expectations from a basketball-mad public.

Having pledged 2 million yuan ($288,000) to victims of the 7.9 magnitude quake that devastated southwest China last week, Yao had also teamed up with fellow Chinese NBA export Yi Jianlian to organize charity missions in the United States, Bai said.

(Take a look at the Countdown to Beijing blog at blogs.reuters.com/china)

(Reporting by Liu Zhen; Editing by Ian Ransom and John O'Brien)