Liu Peng has been named the new director of the State General Administration of Sport, the All-China Sports Federation said on its website on Thursday.

The decision was announced in a congress attended by state councilor Chen Zhili, who praised the incumbent Yuan Weimin for his 47-year efforts and great successes in the field of sport.

"Yuan is stepping down from the sports leadership due to his age, but his contribution will be put into the great history of Chinese sport," Chen said, explaining that the personnel change is a normal reshuffle.

Liu, born in 1951, was the secretary of Secretariat of Communist Youth League (CYL) of China Central Committee from 1993, and became deputy secretary of Communist Party of China (CPC) in Sichuan Province in 2003.

The 65-year-old Yuan, a former volleyball player for the national team, coached the women's team to reap all grand titles in the volleyball world during the 1980s.

He was appointed deputy director in 1998 and became director of the State General Administration of Sport in 2000.

Liu Peng (L) and Yuan Weimin

(Xinhua News Agency December 10, 2004)