Beijing, China, December 30, 2019: As the sporting year draws to a close, the Xinhua News Agency in China has announced its top 10 Chinese athletes/teams of 2019:
1: China's women's volleyball team: They produced a perfect run of 11 victories at the 13th FIVB Women's World Cup from September 14-29, winning the tournament for the fifth time.
2: Sui Wenjing (female, figure skating)/Han Cong (male, figure skating): Sui, 24, and Han, 27, claimed their second world title at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Saitama, Japan, in March.
3: Gong Lijiao (female, track and field): Gong, 30, retained her shot put world title at the IAAF World Championships in Doha following her Diamond League Final victory in Zurich.
4: Liu Shiwen (female, table tennis): Liu, 28, beat teammate Chen Meng en route to her first World Championships singles title in Budapest and was named ITTF Female Table Tennis Star of the Year.
5: Sun Yang (male, swimming): Sun, 28, won gold medals in the men's 200m and 400m freestyle at the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, Korea. He now has 11 World Championship gold medals.
6: Xu Can (male, boxing): Xu, 25, won China's first World Boxing Association title after defeating Jesus Rojas of Puerto Rico in January and defended the WBA featherweight crown twice during the year.
7: Shi Tingmao (female, diving): Shi, 28, claimed a golden double in the women's 3m springboard individual and synchronized diving at the FINA World Swimming Championships.
8: Yi Jianlian (male, basketball): Yi, 32, became the Chinese Basketball Association’s all-time leading scorer on November 21 by posting 20 points against Tianjin, improving his career tally to 11,177 points.
9: Cai Xuetong (female, snowboard): Cai, 26, put her name into the record books as the most successful World Cup freestyle snowboarder of all time by winning her fifth halfpipe Crystal Globe.
10: Deng Wei (female, weightlifting): Deng, 26, won the women's 64kg division gold at the 2019 World Weightlifting Championships with new world records in snatch, clean and jerk and total.