August 28th 2010
Sports Bites

Houston Rockets All-Star center Yao Ming is confident that he'll be ready for the start of the regular season after a team doctor declared his surgically repaired foot fully healed. Yao missed last season after undergoing complex surgery on his left foot in July 2009. Team doctor Tom Clanton has cleared Yao to resume basketball activities. The Rockets had said all along that they expected Yao to play in 2010-11. Yao was still relieved when he got the official diagnosis. ''I am very excited,'' Yao said Tuesday. ''I am just looking forward to playing a great season. I think I can count on my foot now.'

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini is preparing to offload Robinho before the end of the transfer window, with the Brazil forward hoping for a move to Italy or Spain. Mancini said Wednesday he would be happy if Robinho ended up staying at City but envisages the player leaving over the next few days. "Robinho has two or three options. When he chooses, we will then know where he wants to go," Mancini said. "I have spoken with Robinho and he can stay if he works well and trains well. But I think he wants to play in Italy or Spain."

Serena Williams is set to make a comeback at next month's Toray Pan Pacific Open. Williams, who has withdrawn from the U.S. Open to recover from foot surgery, is among eight of the world's top 10 players coming to the tournament in Tokyo, which opens on Sept. 26. The three-time U.S. Open champion cut her foot in July shortly after winning Wimbledon, and her appearance in Tokyo would be her first since then. It would be also her first time at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.

Women's world 800m champion Caster Semenya has been included in South Africa's Commonwealth Games squad. The 19-year-old returned to competition in July after 11 months out following a series of gender tests, winning all three of her comeback races. "It's good to hear her say that she's focusing all her efforts on the Commonwealth Games," said South African Olympic chief Gideon Sam. The Games take place in the Indian capital New Delhi from 3-14 October. Semenya was stood down from competition after tests performed before her 2009 World Championship win revealed unusually high levels of testosterone.

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