China's NBA star Yao Ming's availability at the four-nation basketball tournament starting Friday depends on how he recovers from his injury, Del Harris, head coach of the Chinese national basketball team, said Wednesday in Beijing.

Yao had an operation on his right toe last Saturday, during thenational team's training camp in Dallas, the United States. The Houston Rockets' center is still recovering from the injury.

Yao himself very much wished to play in the four-nation tournament and I also wished he could be at hand, Harris told reporters on Wednesday.

But that depends on his injury, the former Dallas Maverick assistant coach said.

Apart from host China, the four-nation tournament has also had Brazil, Canada and Croatia entered. It would be the first tournament for the new Chinese national team with Harris at the helms.

The four teams will take a single round-robin play in the tournament's three-day first stage in the Chinese capital. They will then move to Urumqi, the capital city of northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, for the second stage July 14-16.

The tournament is the last part of the Chinese team's preparations for next month's Athens Olympic Games.

Source: Xinhua