Houston Rockets centre Yao Ming led China as they beat Iran 76-61 in the opener of the 23rd Asian Basketball Championships, according to China Daily.

Yao Ming collected 29 points, 17 rebounds and 3 blocks in the match. He was double-teamed from the very beginning, but he soon got the Iranian centres into foul trouble and made 23 free throws.

The Chinese team got off to a slow start to the match as they could not find the way to stop the Iranians from scoring out of the arc. They even lagged 12-11 after the first period.

China stepped up the defence in the second period and found ways to outscore the Iranian side. Young hoopsters Yi Jianlian and Sun Yue's blocks gave big hands to Yao while guard Liu Wei's free throws offered help on the other side of the court, lifting China to overturn the deficit and lead 20-18.

"Iran have improved rapidly in the past two years. They have very good young players and gave us some trouble," said Li Nan, captain of the China's team.