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September 25, 2011

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Ping-Pong star moves to IT

WHEN Deng Yaping showed up at the eighth Netrepreneur Summit in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, earlier this month, she wore one of several hats.

Since last September Deng has been general manager of search engine, Jike.com, attached to People's Daily, the official Party newspaper. She also is deputy general secretary of the People's Daily.

In addition, she is a terrific table tennis player, winning six world championships and four Olympic championships between 1989 and 1987.

For eight years she was the world's No. 1 ranked woman table tennis player.

A model of success, she holds a master's degree from the University of Nottingham and a PhD from Cambridge; she served on the International Olympic Committee's ethics and athletes commission.

"I never give myself reasons to fail," said the 38-year-old native of Henan Province. She repeated that several times.

Success didn't come easy.

Because of short stature (only 1.5 meters), she was initially denied a spot on the Chinese National Table Tennis Team, but she proved herself and became one of the greatest players in the history of the sport.

Once she couldn't memorize all 26 letters of the Roman alphabet, but she received a PhD in marketing and management at Cambridge.

And when people thought she would remain in the sports field forever, she suddenly turned into a businesswoman.

She has moved from success to success and keeps learning.

"I have been successful, but right now I am a student in the Internet industry," she told the audience of several thousand Internet business people. She acknowledged Jack Ma, the CEO of Alibaba Group, as her mentor.

"The road of Internet industry ahead of me is extremely hard," she admitted.

According to a report by Analysis International, in the China's search engine market during the second quarter of 2011, Baidu.com had 83.6 percent of the market share, while the slot right now, the slice for Jike.com is very small.

"But I have to try my best once I decided to do something. No one can say who can accomplish something and who cannot," she said with determination.

"People have to get used to the idea of overcoming difficulties and solving problems because we face them throughout our lies," she said.

She likens her IT enterprise to a sports team, saying "Every worker has a position, such as main player and trainer. All work must be focused on how to serve the main players who are responsible for winning the ball. She explained that in her company, technicians are the main players and the rest are support.

"Sports is about strength, faith and teamwork, and so is the Internet industry," she said in her speech.

In conclusion, she shared her mottoes with the audience: It's never to late to do anything. You must believe in yourself, believe in your team and believe in your mission.




 

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