No Chinese make Laureus list

BEIJING - Although China topped the gold medal tally at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and won a national record five gold at the just-concluded Vancouver Games, no Chinese athletes appear among the 42 nominees in seven categories for the 2010 Laureus World Sports Awards, which will be announced in Abu Dhabi next Wednesday.

Deng Yaping, the only Chinese on the 46-member Laureus World Sports Academy, put the country's lack of nominees down to a failure to excel in "influential" sports.

"Frequent nominees and winners always come from a certain few sports such as tennis, Formula One, golf, soccer and track and field. Undoubtedly, we (China) have proven our strength in competitive sports through Olympic success but we are still like walk-ons in the most influential sports," Deng, a former four-time Olympic table tennis gold medalist, said at the 2010 nominees press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday.