HOUSTON -- Yao Ming, the first major Chinese star to break into the
NBA, has decided to retire after nine star-crossed seasons with the
Rockets, according to league sources.

Yahoo! Sports was the first to report the announcement.
The 30-year-old center played just five games over the past two
seasons and has determined that he is unable to make a complete
recovery from stress fracture in his left ankle and tendon strain.
At 7-foot-6, Yao entered the league as the No. 1 pick in the 2002
draft and became literally and figuratively the largest symbol of
the NBA's growing expansion around the world and particularly in
Asia.
Yao was an eight-time NBA All-Star and in five seasons he was voted
onto the league's second or third All-NBA team. He averaged 19.1
points and 9.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots in his career.
He arrived in Houston in 2002 as towering and iconic as the durable
Great Wall of China, yet over the course of his NBA career Yao's
image became increasingly fragile. After missing just two games due
to injury in his first three years in the league, he was sidelined
for 250 over the past six seasons.
Yao would have become a free agent at end of the current lockout
and had spent months trying to rehabilitate his ankle for one more
chance at playing. He has said his desire was to remain in Houston
to play for the Rockets.
However, he did not want to jeopardize his health for life after
playing. Yao's parents were concerned enough about his welfare that
they did not want him to attempt a return to the NBA after the
broken bone in his foot that was suffered in the playoffs of May
2009.
Following the birth of his daughter that same spring, Yao said: "I
can only try so many times. I want to be able to run around and
play with my child, not always wear a cast and use these crutches."

http://www.nba.com/2011/news/07/08/yao-ming-retires/index.html
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