Liu Xiang, Ichiro Suzuki, and Manny Pacquiao are Asia's most important athletes? anyone else?

I really don't see anyone as important for their nations as these guys, not even Yao Ming. Yao is an average All Star, but he is not an elite like Suzuki, Pacquiao, or Liu Xiang who are ranked as one of the greatest athletes in the history of all sports.