Fan Zhendong and Sun Yingsha won the award, and the story behind it is very touching!
On the evening of February 26, Chinese table tennis players Fan Zhendong and Sun Yingsha won the 2023 Best Male and Female Table Tennis Athlete Awards respectively, which were announced at the International Conference in Busan, South Korea. There are also William Bay, Male Para Player of the Year, Xu Xiuyan of the Year, Coach of the Year Natanelle Morin and Referee of the Year Kirstin Duchatz.
Congratulations. In particular, these two won the "Best Combination" and "Best Combination" at the World Championships in Busan, respectively, and won the "Best Male and Female" awards the next day, which can be said to be "double joy". However, it was all worth it. Fan Zhendong won the championship in all 8 World Table Tennis Championships in Busan. In the men's team semifinals, in the face of Wang Chuqin Ma Long conceding consecutive goals, he scored two points by himself. Sun Yingsha is the same, when Chen Meng and Wang Yidi each got two points, they conceded two goals in a row, which allowed China to defeat the Japanese men's team and win the championship, which is due to Sun Yingsha. Chen Meng not only saved Ma Lin, but also the entire team.
In the 2023 season, Fan Zhendong and Sun Yingsha deserve their names. Fan Zhendong has won the 2023 Singapore Grand Slam, Xinjiang Championships, Durban, Ljubljana Golden Ball Challenge and other four individual events. Sun Yingsha is even more powerful, she has won a total of 7 singles gold medals, including the 2023 Singapore Grand Slam, Xinjiang Championships, Durban Series, Ljubljana Rising Stars, Asian Games, Lanzhou Rising Stars, Nagoya, a total of 7 gold medals. They are also the number one players in the world, and they have won the most gold medals in the men's and women's doubles, so they were awarded the title of best male and female team members.
After accepting the award, ITTF transmitted the award speeches of Fan Zhendong and Sun Yingsha to everyone through video. Fan Zhendong said that he is very happy because it is a recognition of his work in the past year. At the same time, he also hopes that this honor will give him enough motivation to perform better in 2024.
Sasha said: "I am very happy to receive this award, thank you for the cultivation of national table tennis, and thank you for the help and encouragement of the people of the whole country. I think that in 2022, I will have a lot of memories, whether it is what I know about myself, but also what I have gained, in fact, in the past year, I have a lot of memories and I am very happy. I had great results in 2022, but there are still many areas to improve. This year's results are still good, but there's still a lot of room for improvement. I also want to continue to improve myself through this award. "
I think everyone said a lot of good things, especially Sun Yingsha Shasha, who expressed her gratitude to the team and the fans, and said that she wants to keep improving, which is really a role model for us. What do you think?