BEIJING, June 8: The Olympic torch arrived in 2008 host city Beijing on Tuesday on the latest leg of its global tour leading up to the Athens Games, with a question mark over NBA star Yao Ming's running of the final relay leg.
The Houston Rockets centre has been picked by Beijing organisers to carry the flame into the famous Summer Palace and ignite a ceremonial cauldron, but he was quoted as saying on Tuesday that he does not want to do it.
"I don't have the right to be the last to carry the baton, this is not the right match," the Eastern Sports Daily quoted Yao as saying. He cited as an example Xu Haifeng (China's first ever shooting gold medallist), Gao Min (diving gold) and Deng Yaping (table tennis gold) as more suitable candidates.
"I am not the appropriate choice," he said. Jiang Xiaoyu, vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympics, had earlier said Yao would run the last section of the Beijing leg. -AFP
