Sixty elite Chinese athletes were honored at the "60 Years, 60 Legends - the most influential athletes since 1949, the founding of New China" awards ceremony on Sunday in Beijing.

They included NBA all-star center Yao Ming, high-profile hurdler Liu Xiang and famous volleyball player and coach Lang Ping.

China's first gold medalist at the Winter Olympic Games, Yang Yang, tennis Grand Slam women's doubles winners Zheng Jie and Yan Zi and Ding Junhui, the country's most noted snooker player, were also among the awardees.

As the driving force of the China women's volleyball team which won five world titles in a row in 1980s, coach Lang was grateful for the recognition.

"We were lucky to influence so many people in that age and the young athletes are also lucky because they have better training conditions now," the 48-year-old, much-traveled coach who led the US team to a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, said.

Chinese athletes have claimed 2,310 world titles and broken 1,195 world records over the past 60 years.

(China Daily September 8, 2009)