Following is a list of the top 10 Chinese athletes for the year of 2006 selected by Xinhua News Agency:

1. Liu Xiang (athletics)

Set the 110m hurdles world record of 12.88 seconds and swept most of the events he entered in 2006.

2. Yao Ming (basketball)

Averaged 25.3 points and nine rebounds in leading China to the top 16 at the world basketball championship and put the Houston Rockets to a good NBA start in the 2006-2007 season.

3. Han Xiaopeng (skiing)

Won China's first ever Olympic skiing gold, also the country's first ever men's Winter Olympic gold, by claiming the men's freestyle aerial skiing in the Turin Olympic Games.

4. Yang Wei (gymnastics)

Swept three golds in the world championships and four golds in the Asian Games.

5. Wang Meng (short track speed skating)

Won the women's 500m short track speed skating gold in the Turin Winter Olympics.

6. Ding Junhui (snooker)

Won the Northern Ireland Trophy after beating four world top 10 ranked players and bagged three golds in the Asian Games.

7. Zheng Jie/Yan Zi (tennis)

Won the women's doubles in the Wimbledon and Australian Open tennis championships.

8. Wang Lei (fencing)

Won China's first ever men's fencing world championship by clinching the epee title in the Turin Worlds.

9. Wu Peng (swimming)

Clocked the year's second best time of one minute 54.91 seconds in winning the men's 200m butterfly in the Asian Games.

10. Chen Yanqing (weightlifting)

Shattered three world records en route to winning the women's 58kg division event at the Asian Games.

Source: Xinhua