Zou Shiming, China's first Olympic champion boxer, feels thrilled to be mentioned in the same breathe as superstars David Beckham and Lionel Messi.

Named as adidas' global ambassador to promote its ClimaCool running shoes, Zou was invited to shoot a TV commercial with a glittering group of elite athletes, which included soccer greats Beckham and Messi as well as NBA star Derrick Rose, in London earlier this year.

"I feel so excited to be able to appear in the TV commercial together with so many big names," Zou said during a ceremony to celebrate the 10th anniversary of adidas' line of ClimaCool shoes. "It was an unforgettable experience to work with global luminaries from various fields."

Though he says he didn't chat with the other stars at length, Zou hailed the commercial as a bold push to promote boxing in Asia.

"Boxing is a highly-participatory sport with strong appeal in a lot of foreign countries. They picked it up together with soccer and basketball. I think my appearance in the ads will make more people interested in the sport," Zou said.

The new line of ClimaCool shoes will be available in over 3,500 retail outlets nationwide from April 1. Over the following weekend, the company is touring its interactive road shows in Beijing at its Sanlitun store and in Shanghai at Huashi Square.

China Daily

(China Daily 04/13/2012 page24)