Deng Yaping, born on 2 February 1973, is the founder of Henan Deng Yaping Sports Industry Investment Fund. Widely acclaimed as the greatest female player in table tennis history, Deng Yaping was the top-ranked woman in the world for eight consecutive years from 1991. A naturally attacking player of small stature, she won 18 individual and team titles at either Olympic or world level during her illustrious career. She clinched Olympic gold in both singles and doubles at the Barcelona Games in 1992, and repeated the feat at the Atlanta Games four years later. She won the world singles title in 1991 and 1995, was world doubles champion with Qiao Hong in 1989 and 1995 and won both the world singles and doubles crowns for a third time in 1997. But, by the end of that year, the 24-year-old felt she had achieved enough in the game and her thoughts were focusing on retirement from competition. She enrolled at Qinghua University in Beijing and then took up a scholarship at the Centre for English Language at Nottingham University in England to complete a Masters degree. She has also been involved with the International Table Tennis Federation's programme for women's development.