Chinese basketball star Yao Ming has been named as the new spokesman for the Nasdaq-listed Internet portal Sohu.com.
Under a two-year agreement, Sohu will manage the official Chinese-language Web site of the 22-year-old National Basketball Association star. Financial terms of the deal were not revealed.
The partnership follows an agreement between Sohu and the NBA in January to create a Chinese-language NBA site.
The Yao site, which was launched yesterday - yaoming.net/china - offers interviews, game schedules and profiles of the player, as well as a column called 'Ask Yao' where he answers fans' questions.
'One of the goals we set for ourselves was to strengthen our news centre and make it China's top mainstream online media centre. The Web site is a very authoritive voice on a sports star. It will help us achieve an edge in sports,' company spokeswoman Caroline Straathof said. She also said the site would feature Yao's childhood pictures and offer fans interactive chats with the star.
According to the NBA, an average 15 million Chinese watch the association's games broadcast on state television's sports channel. The 2.26-metre Shanghainese Yao started playing last October for the Houston Rockets and has become a hero on the mainland.His popularity has generated lucrative endorsement deals, including contracts with Nike, Apple computers and China Unicom.