Following is a list of the top 10 Chinese athletes of 2003, selected by the Xinhua News Agency:   

1. Yao Ming, a 23-year-old from Shanghai, clinched top spot in the first choice team in the Houston Rockets in his second year in the NBA. The 2.26-meter center carried on the sensation from 2002 when he was written into the history books as the first non-American top pick in the NBA's history. He became the first Asian to be voted "Laureus World Newcomer of the Year" for his amazing debut in the top basketball league in May. He was also the "Most Valuable Player" at the Asian Basketball Championship in October and one of China's Top 10 Youngsters.

2. Li Xiaopeng, won the men's team, vault and parallel bars for China at the World Gymnastics Championships in Anaheim, the United States, in August, piling up a total of 13 world and Olympic titles to his name. His aim is to overtake Li Ning who holds 14 world and Olympic titles as a Chinese record.

3. Luo Xuejuan, became the triple winner at the Swimming World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, in July as the 19-year-old from Zhejiang Province won in the women's 50m breaststroke, 100m breaststroke and 4x100m medley relay.

4. Zhao Ruirui, was named Top Spiker at the 2003 Women's Volleyball World Cup in November as China embraced their first volleyball World Cup title in 17 years.

5. Wang Nan, put on an outstanding performance at the World Table Tennis Championships in Paris in May as she bagged three gold medals in women's singles, doubles and mixed doubles out of China's four titles. By far China has won the women's singles and doubles titles at the worlds for three times in a run.

6. Liu Xiang, the 20-year-old Asian record holder, became the first Asian to take a medal at the athletics world championships as he raced to the finish third in the men's 110m hurdles in 13.23 seconds in Paris.

7. Liu Chunhong, beat her own world record a total of five times in the combined, snatch, and clean and jerk of the women's 69kg class weightlifting as she swept three gold medals at the World Weightlifting Championships in Vancouver, Canada last month.

8. Sun Yingjie, took a long overdue medal at the Athletics World Championships in Paris in August as she finished third in the women's 10,000 meters in 30:07.20. Sun continued her feat to win the 5,000m and 10,000m titles at the Asian Athletics Championships a month later before racing to victory at the Beijing Marathon in October.

9. Shen Xue, defended the world title in pairs' figure skating with her partner Zhao Hongbo in March in Washington where they triumphed again in pairs in the ISU Grand Prix finals nine months later with a new routine "the Nutcracker."

10. Zhao Hongbo, defended the world title in pairs' figure skating with his partner Shen Xue in March in Washington where they triumphed again in pairs in the ISU Grand Prix finals nine months later with a new routine "the Nutcracker."

(Xinhua News Agency December 26, 2003)