(FAN XIAOMING)

American Bob Donewald Jr, a former assistant with NBA teams New Orleans Hornets and Cleveland Cavaliers from 2001 to 2004, has taken over China's men's basketball team as head coach. He replaces Guo Shiqiang, who remains as an assistant coach.

Donewald, 40, is the third foreigner to coach China's national team, following his compatriot Del Harris and Lithuanian Jonas Kazlauskas.

Donewald was hired by the Shanghai Sharks as their head coach in 2009. He took the Shanghai Sharks to the semifinals of the Chinese Basketball Association league in the 2009-10 season, their first in eight years.

Though Yao Ming, China's No.1 basketball player and the center for the NBA's Houston Rockets, is still recovering from a foot injury and unlikely to return to competition this year, Donewald said he was confident about leading the Chinese side to a respectable result at the world championships in Turkey in August and defending its title at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, in south China's Guangdong Province, this November.