With Yao Ming's status in question, China's first NBA player Wang Zhizhi was on Sunday put back on China's national team roster ahead of the world championships and issued a statement apologizing for letting down his country.

Wang Zhizhi. [file]

"I want to tell everyone a once-impulsive teenager has become a father with a sense of responsibility. Big Zhi is back. Big Zhi won't let you down. Watch my concrete actions," Wang wrote in a statement published Sunday on the Chinese news Web site Sina.com. Big Zhi is his nickname.

Wang, a center who played with China's Bayi Rockets military team before joining the NBA, angered the Chinese basketball association by refusing to return for national team duties following his 2001-2002 rookie season in the U.S.

He was expelled from the Chinese national squad after he refused to come back for the Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, in October 2002.

Meanwhile, Wang's fame has been eclipsed by the success of Houston Rockets center Yao Ming.

But Yao's availability for the world championships starting August 19 in Sapporo, Japan, is in doubt because he is recovering from foot surgery. Yao wasn't on the roster announced Sunday but Wang was.

Wang, who recently returned to China, said in his statement that he had wrongly placed his interests above the nation's.

"I can say every bit of progress and achievement I compiled are the result of the country's and military's meticulous cultivation. However ... I only considered my personal gain and loss. I weighed my personal interests too heavily," he said.

Sina.com quoted Wang as saying he is in talks about a possible return to the Bayi Rockets military team.

In the NBA, Wang played for the Dallas Mavericks, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Miami Heat. His career average is 4.4 points and 1.7 rebounds per game.