Factfile: Firsts in China's Sports

Following are the athletes whose performances have been landmarks in the Chinese sporting history:

Chen Jingkai: first Chinese who broke world record On June 7 1956, in a weightlifting competition between China and the former Soviet Union, the 20-year-old Chen managed a lift

of 133kg in bantamweight category to become the first Chinese to break the world record.

Zheng Fengrong: first Chinese woman in world athletics competition

Zheng, aged 20 then, scored a high jump of 1.77m in 1957, beating the previous mark of 1.76m. The result had made her the first Asian to break the world record of athletics in the past 30

years.

Rong Guotuan: first world champion since China P.R. was founded in 1949

Rong made history by beating a strong opposition for the men's singles title of the 1958 world table tennis championships.

Lang Ping: China's "Iron Hammer"

The Chinese women's volleyball is the first sport to catch attention from the world. The brightest star of the team is Lang Ping, dubbed "Iron Hammer" for her powerful spikes. In 1981 she inspired the Chinese team to win the first world title, before they swept another four titles in Olympic Games, World Cup and World Championships for an amazing "5-peat" performance.

Li Ning, the most brilliant star in Chinese sport

The most brilliant year for the Chinese gymnastics came in 1982 when Li Ning bagged as many as six titles ---floor, vault,rings, horizontal bar,pommel horse and all-round-- in the sixth World Cup in Yugoslav. His performances were unprecedented for the Chinese gymnastics and also raised the bar to the highest for the world gymnastics.

Yang Wenyi: first Asian swimmer to break world record

Yang made history by beating the world record in women's 50m freestyle in a national event in 1988. The world record was broken again by herself in 1992 Olympic Games.

Xie Jun: Female Chess player who dares to Challenge Opposite Sex

Xie made a historical breakthrough when she dethroned Maya Chiburdanidze of the former Soviet Union at the 1991 world chess championships to break a long-time Soviet dominance in world

chess. Last year she also challenged Russian great Anatoly Karpov in a six-game series, the first time in the game's history a women's world championships title holder challenged her men's

counterpart.

Fu Mingxia:China's youngest world champion

Aged 23, Fu has had a diving career of more than 10 years. When she was 13, she became the youngest world champion in the 1991 world swimming championships. She has won titles in three

consecutive Olympic Games and become an ever-green star in the international diving field.

Gao Ming:Diving Queen

She has garnered a total of eight golds in major events like Olympic Games, world championships and world cup. The titles she won in her career totalled more than 60.

Wang Junxia:First Chinese who won Jesse Owens Award

China had reaped little in women's middle- and long-distance run in the world until 1993 world championships in Stuttgart where she won the 10,000m gold medal to break the world championships

mark. One month later she broke the world record in the same discipline in China's eighth National Games. In 1994 she beat a strong field to win Owens Trophy. In 1996 Atlanta Games she capped her career with a 5,000m gold and 10,000m silver.

Chen Lu: China's first star in figure skating

She made impact in 1995 world championships in Birmingham, England, where she won the women's singles title to become China's first world champion in figure skating.

Xu Haifeng: China's first Olympic gold medalist

The shooter put his name in the history book when he won China's first Olympic gold in 1988 Olympic Games.

Deng Yaping: a table tennis legend who dominated an era

She is not only the first Olympic paddler who succeeded in title defense in two straight Games, but also the only winner of four Olympic golds in the game's history.

Wang Yifu: Chinese athlete who attended the most Olympic Games Since he won the shooting bronze in 1988 Games, Wang had participated in four consecutive Games, the first in the Chinese

sport history.

Foreign Leagues Take Fancy to Chinese Players

As China flex its sporting muscle in major events, top foreign leagues have begun to open their

doors to the Chinese athletes.

When the U.S. launched the women's soccer league(WUSA) in April,they turned to Chinese elite players to shore up the fledging league's status and ensure its success.

They first signed five Chinese internationals, including Sun Wen, the winner of the FIFA Golden Ball award. Days before the kickoff of the league, Chinese defender Bai Jie signed up to

become the sixth Chinese to join the WUSA.

Thinking the league would be flawed without the presence of theChinese players, the American side has shown their willingness to have more signatures in China.

Their fancy to the Chinese footballers is justified considering the credential China's women soccer has.

Since 1980 Chinese women soccer has garnered more than 20 titles in major events, including the silver medals in both the 1996 Atlanta Games and 1999 U.S. World Cup.

As one of the few countries who launched the women's soccer at the earliest, China has been long on top of the echelon of the sport.

It is a different story for the men's soccer, which is still pursuing the elusive World Cup finals, but more and more Chinese players have gone to European league to ply trade.

Those who are still based in Europe include Yang Chen(Bundesliga Frankfurt), Xie Hui(Aachen of Bundesliga second division) and Fan Zhiyi(England first division Crystal Palace).

Being key players in their clubs, they have brought recognition to the talents of the Chinese footballers. Xie would have been the best scorer this season in the Bundesliga second division if he had not returned home for China's bid for the 2002 World Cup finals.

Among other sports, NBA, the world's top basketball league, also lost no time to sign their targeted player, eyeing the "Great Wall" of China.

It is actually a walking "Great Wall", which is composed of China's three top centers Wang Zhizhi, Yao Ming and Menk Batere.

The 23-year-old Wang, a 2.13m center of an army club, had been drafted in the second round and 36th overall by the Dallas Mavericks in 1999 and then joined the team at the end of this season given permission by his club, becoming the first Asian to join the NBA.

Though NBA clubs had planned to draft Yao as one of the top picks for next season, his team announced recently he would not declare eligible for this year's draft.

Instead he will focus on playing for the Chinese national team ahead of next year's Asian Games in Pusan, South Korea.

It, however, is just a matter of time for the 2.25m center to join NBA considering his great talent.

"It is very likely for Yao to go to NBA next year,"said Bai Li,general manager of Yao's club Shanghai Sharks."The club has given support to his move next year."

The 2.11m Batere, 24, also had links with NBA although he is the oldest of the three and considered the least skilled.






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