1. Yang Yang (A), short-track speed skating, won the women's 500 meters and 1,000 meters short-track speed skating titles in Salt Lake City in February, ending China's gold medal drought at the Winter Olympic Games.

2. Yao Ming, basketball, No. 1 NBA draft pick of 2002, plays for the Houston Rockets as the first non-American top pick in NBA's history.

3. Zhang Yining, table tennis, won the women's singles in the ITTF Pro Tour Finals and ranked No. one in the world rankings.

4. Li Xiaopeng, gymnastics, claimed two gold medals at the 36th World Gymnastics Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, in November with a newly-invented vault routine named after him.

5. Tao Luna, shooting, snatched two gold medals, one in world record performance, in the sport pistol at the World Cup Finals in Munich, Germany, in August. In the Busan Asian Games, she led her teammates to break the team world mark in the women's 25m sport pistol.

6. Guo Jingjing, diving, swept both gold medals in the women's 1m and 3m springboards at the World Cup in Spain in June. She also claimed the 3m springboard title at the Busan Asian Games.

7. Zhu Chen, chess, led the Chinese women's team to successfully defend their world title at the 35th Chess Olympiad in Slovenia in November last year.

8. Nie Yali, field hockey, goalie of the Chinese national women's field hockey team which won the Champions Cup last August in Macao, China, claimed the gold medal at the Busan Asian Games and the bronze at the World Cup.

9. Sui Feifei, basketball, a key member of the Chinese women's basketball team which finished sixth at the World Championship last September in China, and was crowned at the Busan Asian Games.

10. Liu Xiang, athletics, broke the world youth record in the men's 110 meters hurdles at an IAAF Grand Prix in July.

Note: the vote was organized by 30-plus sports media in China.

(People's Daily March 30, 2003)