'Boss', Huang added luster to a sorry year for China

Houston Rockets All-star center Yao Ming and American-Chinese businessman Huang Jianhua stood out in Chinese basketball in 2009 thanks to their refreshing moves into the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA).

However, the national team's setbacks on the international stage coupled with the struggles of its head coach, Guo Shiqiang, made the year a less than stellar one for the country's most popular sport.

Yao became the sole owner of his old team, the financially-troubled Shanghai Sharks, in July and Huang, who goes by the name Kenny Huang in the US, took over the Jilin Northeast Tigers four months later.