Bob Donewald, head coach of Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) club Shanghai Sharks, has terminated his contract with the team, the?club announced on its website Wednesday.

"Respecting Donewald's own choice and considering his will to seek further career development, the club has agreed to release him and wish him a better future in the CBA," the online statement quoted Sharks' general manager Zhang Mingji as saying.

Zhang also said the club has begun to search for Donewald's successor, and guaranteed the process would not affect the team's preparations for the new season, which will tip off in November.

After hoop icon Yao Ming entered the Sharks' management as a shareholder in July 2009, his agent team introduced Donewald as coach of the squad. The 41-year-old American then signed a two-year contract with the Sharks four months later, on the conditions that he could freely choose to extend or withdraw from the arrangement when the deal expired this summer.

Soon after taking the helm, Donewald led the Sharks to a ninth-place finish with a 25-7 record in the 2009-2010 CBA regular season, rising sharply from the previous season's 6-44 performance. The team reached the semifinals and stunned the league.

However, an injury-plagued roster hurt the Sharks' performances this year and blocked them out of the postseason.

Donewald's dazzling coaching effort won him the post as national team head coach in April of last year.

During his tenure, the national squad claimed last year's Guangzhou Asian Games' gold medal in November after fighting its way into the last 16 at the FIBA World Championships in the summer.

Despite relinquishing his club job, Donewald is leading the national team as it prepares for September's Asian Championships to earn the only direct berth at next year's London Olympics.

According to an anonymous source inside the Shanghai club, an offer from another CBA team, the Xinjiang Flying Tigers, is believed to have drawn Donewald away from the Sharks, the domestic web portal sina.com said.

The Flying Tigers, three-time consecutive runners-up in the CBA, released coach Jiang Xingquan after losing to the Guangdong Southern Tigers in this year's finals and said they could pick a foreign coach to replace Jiang.