Yao Ming (Xinhua file photo/Wang Ying)
BEIJING, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Yao Ming, member of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and former NBA all-star player, was unanimously voted as the president of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) here on Thursday.
Yao, 37, became the first-ever non-governmental personage to take the position at the ninth national congress of the association which was founded in 1956.
The CBA Charter also got revised in the congress, making president the association's legal representative who used to be secretry-general.
As one of the sports icons in China, Yao landed on NBA in the year of 2002 as the first-pick of the draft, playing for Houston Rockets for 9 years and entering all-star games eight times. He also led the Chinese national team to the last eight in 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
In 2009, Yao bought the Shanghai Sharks, the CBA club where he played as a teenager. And last year, Yao was elected as the vice president of the newly-established CBA company which was in charge of the league's management and business development.
Since his retirement in 2011, Yao has been pursuing the reform of the professional basketball in China.
