Famous Chinese link makes Aussie a star off the court

Though a virtual unknown at badminton's elite level, Australian shuttler Gronya Somerville has built a decent fan base in China thanks to her family's deep Chinese heritage.

Somerville, a member of the Aussie female doubles team at the Sudirman Cup, has drawn massive Chinese media interest through her elegant playing style, photogenic looks and famous ancestry.

Somerville's father was of Chinese decent and she is also the great-great-granddaughter of Kang Youwei, the renowned Chinese scholar, calligrapher and political reformer, who rose to prominence during the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) with an ambitious but ill-fated attempt to turn China into a constitutional monarchy at the turn of the 20th century.