China's former Olympic gold-medalist and world champion table tennis player Deng Yaping has been voted on to the elite Laureus World Sports Academy, becoming its 44th member and the first Chinese athlete being so honored.

　　Deng, 29, has thus joined the likes of basketball great MichaelJordan, former track and field stars Edwin Moses and Sebastian Coe,retired football legends Pele, Bobby Charlton and Michel Platini, ex-tennis aces Boris Becker and Martina Navnadilova and Romania's ace gymnast Nadia Comaneci.

　　"I already know Laureus World Sports Academy members like Kenyan middle-distance legend Kip Keino through my work with the International Olympic Committee athletes commission and I was verypleased to accept the invitation to join the Academy," said Deng.

　　The top-ranked woman in the world for eight consecutive years from 1991, Deng is widely regarded as the greatest female player in table tennis history. A naturally attacking player of small stature, she won 18 individual and team titles at either Olympic or world level during her illustrious career.

　　She clinched Olympic gold in both singles and doubles at the Barcelona Games in 1992, and repeated the feat in Atlanta four years later. she won the world singles title in 1991 and 1995, was world doubles champion with Qiao Hong in 1989 and 1995 and clinched both the world singles and doubles crowns for a third time in 1997.

　　"I am honored to become the first Chinese athlete to join the Laureus World Sports Academy," said Deng. "Not only is this a personal achievement but also shows Chinese athletes position in the world of sports."

　　"I will do my best, along with other athletes of the Academy, to use sports as tool to promote peace and development. I will also work hard to make the development of sports in China and Chinese athletes known to the world," she said.

　　"I hope that in the near future we will be able to see even more Chinese athletes joining Laureus Sports Academy and receive the 'Oscar of Sports' the Laureus World Sports awards," she added.

　　The Laureus World Sports Academy is the heart and soul of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, a charitable venture created bythe Founding Patrons of the Laureus World Sports Awards, DaimlerChrysler and Richement, who are represented through their premier brands Mercedes-Benz and Cartier. The Foundation is financed by the Founding Patrons, with Deutsche Bank Private Banking acting as its Trusted Private Bank.