Table tennis champ is crowned new master

Deng Yaping is a four times Olympic champion

A university ceremony in Nottingham is to be beamed across Chinese television as the country's equivalent of David Beckham receives her latest academic accolade.

Four times Olympic champion Deng Yaping will be awarded her masters degree in a graduation ceremony on Thursday.

The table-tennis sensation, who was voted female athlete of the 20th Century in China, has gained her MA in Contemporary Chinese Studies.

She took the three year course at the University of Nottingham after arriving in the city to study English when she retired from competition at the age of 24 in 1996.

Gold medals

At the time she was ranked as the world's number one woman player.

During her career she won both singles and doubles titles in the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992 and in Atlanta in 1996.

Yaping in Olympic action

The graduation ceremony will be recorded by a film crew who have travelled from Beijing.

She will receive her degree from the University Chancellor, Professor Fujia Yang, a renowned Chinese nuclear physicist.

A university spokeswoman said: "Deng Yaping enjoys the kind of fame in China that in Britain is reserved for sporting superstars like David Beckham.

"She first came to Nottingham to take a year-long course in the Centre for English Language Studies, before embarking on her masters degree in the University's Institute of Contemporary Chinese Studies."

Ms Deng has also worked in the Chinese parliament and serves on the International Olympic Committee.