China's Yao Ming is set to join his national team-mates for full Olympic training next month as the centre continues his recovery from foot surgery.

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.

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 organise charity missions in the United States, the daily said.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.