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Swimming ace Zhang leads awards nominees

By Lei Lei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-28 09:32

JINAN, Shandong province: World champion and triple gold medalist Zhang Lin leads the nominees at the 2009 Anta CCTV Sports Personality of the Year awards ceremony.

Regarded as China's "Sports Oscars", the ceremony honors the most outstanding groups or individuals in sports for the year.

Led by Zhang, who became China's first male world champion swimmer at the Rome World Championships in August, the nation's top sportsmen and sportswomen will vie for 11 awards.

Related readings:  Prolific Zhang chasing Olympic dream  Zhang claims title at Men's 200m individual medley  World champion Zhang starts with gold rush at National Games  Zhang wins China's first ever men's gold at swimming worlds

The nominee list, which features nearly 100 athletes, coaches and teams, was announced on Monday at the National Games. It includes table tennis world champion Wang Hao, diving queen Guo Jingjing, short track speed skating world champion Wang Meng, the China badminton team and the women's curling side.

Zhang has been appointed ambassador for the awards along with Olympic men's diving champion He Chong, two-time Olympic women's weightlifting champion Liu Chunhong and the last torchbearer at the Beijing Paralympic Games, Hou Bin.

The judging panel includes top sports officials, senior sports reporters and experts.

The final nominee list, which will include five candidates for each award, will be decided by the 200 judges in the middle of December and the winners will be selected by 100 judges on Jan 16. The awards ceremony will be held that day at the Peking University Hall.

As for the National Games champions, only those who break world records will be nominated for awards.