Tireless crusader joins ranks of top leadership

Ping Yali, the blind athlete who won China's first Paralympic gold medal in 1984, credits her momentous milestone to Deng Pufang.

"It was all because of him that I achieved something in my life, and I hope welfare for the disabled will soon reach the same level as that of normal people now that he is a State leader," she said yesterday.

Deng Pufang - elder son of late leader Deng Xiaoping - yesterday became the first physically-challenged person to join the top leadership in the country when he was elected CPPCC vice-chairman.