University of Nottingham Alum, Dr Deng Yaping has been inducted into the BUCS Hall of Fame at the BUCS Awards ceremony in Bristol, U.K. The eighteen-time world table tennis champion and four-time Olympic gold medallist, was awarded the honour in recognition of her outstanding achievements in sport and education.

The Chinese phenomenon, is widely considered as the greatest female player in table-tennis history and was inducted into the UoN Sport Hall of Fame in May 2017.

Dreaming of being a World Champion from an early age, Yaping’s breakthrough came in 1989 when aged just 16 years old she captured the World Women’s Doubles title in Dortmund, Germany. Dominating the sport for the next eight years, her four Olympic titles came from gold in the singles and doubles in Barcelona 1992 followed by retaining both titles in Atlanta 1996.

After her retirement in 1997, Deng was voted the Chinese Sports Personality of the Century and received an honorary doctorate at UNNC. The University of Nottingham, in common with other British universities, is empowered to give honorary degrees - the highest honour a university can bestow - to people of distinction.

Her legacy continues at the University of Nottingham, through the Deng Yaping Scholarship programme for talented table-tennis players from China giving them the opportunity to study and compete in the U.K in higher education, whilst developing their future career prospects through volunteering support.

Zhao Shuai, Haoyu Liu and Weijie Kong are the first three scholars all combining studies at the University with intensive table tennis training. During Zhao Shuai’s study at UNNC, he won the Table Tennis Gold Medal at the Rio Paralympic Games in 2016.