All 3,000 tickets for the NBA pre-season game in Shanghai were sold out in just 10 hours on September 12, according to Eastday.com.

About 2,500 fans started queuing up at the Shanghai Stadium gate September 10, according to a local report.

The NBA announced its decision to hold two pre-season games in China in February, hoping to cash in on the huge popularity of the Houston Rockets' Chinese player Yao Ming.

The Houston Rockets will play the Sacramento Kings in the first game on October 14 in East China's Shanghai Municipality, and in Beijing on October 17.