Yao Ming Vows to Win CBA Title

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, April 09, 2002

Yao Ming Vows to Win CBA Title

It's the third time Chinese sensation Yao Ming leads the Shanghai Sharks into the final of the Chinese Basketball Association domestic league (CBA). He will not let the chance loose again.

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It's the third time Chinese sensation Yao Ming leads the Shanghai Sharks into the final of the Chinese Basketball Association domestic league (CBA). He will not let the chance loose again.

"I don't care we finish second or the last. If I cannot win the title this time, there is no difference," The 2.25-meter center said.

The Sharks, who lost 3-0 in 1999-00 season and 3-1 in 2000-01 to the Bayi Rockets in the finals, will face off the arch-rival again in the best-of-five ties in Ningbo, Rockets' home court, on Wednesday.

Wang Zhizhi, now plays for the Dallas Mavericks of America's National Basketball Association (NBA), help the military team of Rockets to win in the previous two finals, and six consecutive titles before he left a year ago.

"It is the best chance to win the title. I won't let it loose,"Shark's point guard Liu Wei said.

Yao Ming led his team for the first-ever regular-season title with a 23-1 win-loss record, and cruised through the first two rounds of the playoff with a double 3-0 sweep.

The 21-year-old future super star is very likely to join NBA next season could he help the Sharks for the first title in CBA.

"I worked so hard this season in order to face them in the final. Now we are here. I don't expect another 3-0 because we have

never conquered them on the road in Ningbo. But this does not bother me. I'm so confident we'll win the title this time," Yao Ming vowed.

The only loss of the Sharks this season was in Ningbo, the last match of the regular season. The Sharks never beat the Rockets in Ningbo and was down by 10-3 in the previous meetings in the last three seasons.

"I know we are on pressure. We want so much the title and now we have the best chance. Everybody sees us as the favorites," veteran forward Zhang Wenqi said. "But I think they (the Rockets) have pressure too. I'm not too worried."

American guard Steve Harter said, "I came to Shanghai with only one thought in my mind - to win the title."

David Benoit, former Utah Jazz power forward who came to join the Sharks midway into the playoff, said, "I have told American journalists that Yao will go to NBA if the Sharks win the title. He is a genious. I will help him to win the title, believe me."

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