Injured Nets forward Yi expects to return next week

BEIJING, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- New Jersey Nets' Chinese forward Yi Jianlian told Chinese netizens via his blog on Thursday that he recovered well and hoped to return to action next week after a 50-stitches repair to close the upper lip laceration he suffered in practice.

Yi said doctors took out stitches for him on Monday and everything is OK after that. "I hope I can see everybody back on court next week," Yi blogged.

Yi revealed that he engorged himself on food for his recovery after the stitches. "The only thing boring was that I couldn't go outside for fear of wound infection, and I had to stay at home watching TV all day long," Yi wrote.

Yi, who had missd 15 games with a sprained right knee before the lip injury. He had expected to return to action about two weeks ago, but suffered the lip injury after he was accidentally elbowed by teammate Sean Williams while playing 3-on-3 in practice on Dec. 6.

"I saw Sean yesterday and he said he felt sorry for the injury. I think getting injured is something quite common in NBA, he didn't mean it and we are still buddies," Yi said in his blog.

The Chinese Olympian has played in only four games this season, averaging 9.8 points and 7.5 rebounds.