SHANGHAI, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Houston Rockets center Yao Ming announced through his agent on Wednesday that he is taking over his former club Shanghai Sharks, which is in financial difficulties.

    Yao's management team and Shanghai Sharks, the name of which had been changed to Shanghai Oriental Basketball Club, signed a framework agreement on share transfer.

    According to the agreement, all the shares will be sold to Yao who will become the sole shareholder of the club.

    The share transfer has entered the assessment phase and the club will submit the application of the transfer to the Chinese Basketball Management Center at the end of this month. Then, the club will be going through the CBA entry assessment for the coming new season.

    Since the withdrawal of their main sponsor earlier this year, the Sharks have fallen into financial difficulties. Last month, the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) announced that Shanghai was among the clubs which faced the prospect of being unable to reach the CBA league's entry requirement next year.

    Yao started playing for the Sharks in 1997 and led the team to the CBA champions in 2002 before he was selected by the Rockets as number one pick in that year's NBA draft.