China's Ma Long, Liu Shiwen win ITTF Star Awards

China's table tennis world champions Ma Long (L) and Liu Shiwen.

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) on Wednesday held the 2019 Star Awards ceremony in Zhengzhou, capital city of central China's Henan Province. China's world champions Ma Long and Liu Shiwen received the Male and Female Star Awards respectively.

China's Ma Long in action at the ITTF Men's World Cup in Chengdu, capital city of southwest China's Sichuan Province, November 30, 2019.

This was the third time for Ma to receive the honor after 2015 and 2016. He defeated multiple nominees including his compatriot Xu Xin, Chinese Taipei's Lin Yun-ju and Sweden's Mattias Falck.

"Ma Long rubber stamped his reputation as arguably the greatest male player in table tennis history very early in the year," the ITTF said on its official website.

"Table tennis means me everything," said Ma at the ceremony. He expressed gratitude toward his family, the Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA), China's national team and his teammates for their support. Having battled injuries most of the past year, 31-year-old Ma managed to win his third straight men's singles title at the 2019 world championships in Budapest, Hungary. Winning the ITTF Male Star Award was a great end to his year of 2019.

China's Liu Shiwen in action at the ITTF Team World Cup in Tokyo, Japan, November 8, 2019.

Liu Shiwen pocketed her second Female Star Award after 2015 and resisted stiff competition from her teammates – world No. 1 Chen Meng and world No. 2 Sun Yingsha – and Japan's Mima Ito.

"Winner of the award in 2015 in Lisbon, it has been a year of contrasts for Liu Shiwen, not an ITTF World Tour women's singles title to her name; yet three World titles!" the ITTF wrote on its official website.

Liu said that the prize was an approval of her efforts in 2019, especially after struggling to perform in the previous two years. Having expressed her gratitude toward the national team and her teammates, the 28-year-old set her eyes on the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, and looked forward to even better results.

China's Xu Xin in the match at the ITTF World Tour Korea Open table tennis tournament in Busan, South Korea, July 7, 2019.

Though Xu Xin did not get the Star Award, he and fellow Chinese Fan Zhendong won the "Star Point of the Year" thanks to an incredible move in the men's doubles final at the Seamaster 2019 ITTF World Tour Platinum Lion Japan Open on June 16.

Puerto Rico's Bladimir Diaz won the Star Coach Award. Germany's Thomas Schmidberger and Italy's Giada Rossi became Male Para Star and Female Para Star respectively.