Yao Ming responds to Flying Tigers' departure from CBA

Chinese Basketball Association president Yao Ming praised the Xinjiang Flying Tigers' contribution to the sport's development after the former league champion club announced it would withdraw from the domestic league.

In response to the club's shocking decision to quit the country's professional league system, Yao, who was re-elected chief of the CBA in December, hailed the Flying Tigers' efforts in promoting the sport, but gave no details on a recent CBA penalty that triggered the club's withdrawal.

"Honestly, the Flying Tigers have made a great contribution to Chinese basketball over the past 20 years. We respect its decision even though we feel quite regretful about it," Yao, a Basketball Hall of Famer, said after attending a media event in Beijing on Wednesday.

"Our focus now is to bring the league competition back to the fans. We will also take care of the arrangements after Xinjiang quit the league," he said.

The Flying Tigers, the 2016-17 CBA championship winner, announced on Tuesday it would quit the domestic league system in protest of a penalty issued by the CBA on Feb 17 to ban the club from signing any new players for a year.

The decision was made on the eve of Xinjiang's scheduled home game against the Beijing Ducks in Urumqi on Wednesday, when the CBA's 2022-23 regular season resumed following a long holiday break.

The punishment was levied after an internal investigation and was imposed due to allegations the Flying Tigers had been operating under a company unregistered with the CBA, violating league rules that each of the 20 CBA clubs has to run its financial operations under one company registered with the association.

The Flying Tigers denied all allegations in a strongly-worded statement released on Tuesday, calling the penalty "absurd" and "groundless", insisting its registration status was "fair and legal" after having passed the CBA's pre-season club scrutiny for the past three years.