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.

奈史密斯篮球名人堂成员、NBA前全明星球员姚明于本周四全票当选中国篮协主席。

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.

现年37岁的姚明在第九次篮协全国代表大会上当选主席，这是中国篮协自1956年成立以来首次由体制外人员担任主席。

The CBA Charter also got revised in the congress, making president the association's legal representative who used to be secretry-general.

本次大会对中国篮协的章程进行了修改，规定篮协主席成为协会的法人代表，而之前担任法人代表的则是秘书长。

As one of the sports icons¹ 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.

作为中国体育的象征之一，姚明在2002年选秀大会上以状元秀的身份登陆NBA，为休斯顿火箭队效力九年，八次入选全明星，并在2004年雅典奥运会和2008年北京奥运会上率领国家队闯入八强。

In 2009, Yao bought the Shanghai Sharks, the CBA club where he played as a teenager. And last year, Yao was elected as the vice² president of the newly-established CBA company which was in charge of the league's management and business development.

2009年，姚明收购了自己年少时效力的CBA俱乐部上海大鲨鱼队。去年，姚明被选为新组建的CBA公司的副总裁。该公司主要负责中国男子篮球职业联赛的管理与商务开发工作。

Yao Ming, the newly-elected Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) president, said Thursday that he would sell his shares in the CBA side Shanghai Sharks before next season.

新当选的中国篮协主席姚明于本周四表示，将在下赛季开始前出售自己在上海大鲨鱼的所有股份。