(Sports Focus) Ning Zetao, Liu Hong named China's athletes of the year

Swimmer Ning Zetao and race walker Liu Hong won the Award for Best Male and Female Athlete of the Year respectively at China's Central Television (CCTV) Sports Awards here on Sunday.

The 23-year-old Ning, also the 2014 award winner, won the world 100-meter freestyle title in 47.84 seconds in Kazan, Russia, on August 6, 2015, becoming the first man from Asia to win a medal of any color in the blue-ribbon event at the world championships since 1973.

Liu Hong, 28, chopped more than one minute off her personal best to win the 20km race walk in one hour, 24 minutes, 38 seconds, a new world record, at the Spanish leg of the 2015 IAAF Race Walking Challenge in La Coruna, Spain in June. She was also the winner of this event at the world championships in Beijing.

The Chinese men's relay team of Mo Youxuan, Xie Zhenye, Su Bingtian, Zhang Peimeng retained the Best Pairing Award while Su, who clocked 9.99 seconds twice in 2015, claimed the Best Breakthrough Award.

The Chinese women's volleyball team, who won the 2015 World Cup in Japan, had the Best Team Award. Their coach, Jenny Lang Ping, was named the Best Coach and also given the Sports Special Contribution award.

Basketball player Zhou Qi, tipped as the hope of the Chinese national team, was named the Best Rookie of the Year.

The annual CCTV Sports Awards has been hailed as the Chinese version of the Laureus World Sports Awards. Endi