China's Ma, Liu lead nominees for ITTF 2019 Star Awards

BEIJING - Former world No 1s Ma Long and Liu Shiwen led the list of 2019 ITTF Star Awards nominees announced Wednesday by table tennis's world governing body.

Players from the Chinese team represent five of the eight nominees for Male and Female Star awards, while three of the five nominees for the Star Point award are also Chinese paddlers.

The seventh edition of the ITTF yearend awards will be held in Zhengzhou, China on December 11 to bring together players and coaches from all over the world to acknowledge their efforts during 2019.

The ceremony will feature a total of seven awards, with nominees for Male Para Star, Female Para Star, Star Coach and Breakthrough Star still to be announced.

The list of paddlers already nominated by the ITTF Athletes' Commission and unveiled by the ITTF on Wednesday is as follows:

Nominees for Male Table Tennis Star - Mattias Falck (Sweden), Xu Xin (China), Ma Long (China), Lin Yun-Ju (Chinese Taipei)

Nominees for Female Table Tennis Star - Chen Meng (China), Sun Yingsha (China), Liu Shiwen (China), Mima Ito (Japan)

Nominees for Star Point Award - Timo Boll vs Ma Long (2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open); Xu Xin & Fan Zhendong vs Dang Qui & Benedikt Duda (2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum Japan Open); Lily Zhang vs Miu Hirano (2019 ITTF Women's World Cup); Gaston Alto vs Vitor Ishiy (2019 ITTF Pan America Championships); Christian Pletea vs Yu Heyi (2018 ITTF World Junior Table Tennis Championships)

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