Ning Zetao News: World Class Swimmer Named China's Athlete Of The Year
Prominent Chinese swimmer Ning Zetao was recently in the news after he was named as 2015 Best Male Athlete of the Year.
The 23-year-old swimmer received the award on Jan. 24 at China's Central Television Sports Awards.
This is the second consecutive time Ning won the award, which he also won in 2014. The athlete was at the headline of world sports when he won the 100-meter freestyle title in Kazan, Russia.
Following Ning's historic win, famous Russian sprinter Alexander Popov was quoted by SwimSwan as saying, "We witnessed a historic moment in the 100m freestyle."
Ning Zetao wasn't the only one being honored that night. According to the news, race walker Liu Hong was feted the 2015 Award for Best Female Athlete of the Year. The 28-year-old athlete managed to beat her own record by one minute at the 20km race walk category by clocking at 24 minutes and 38 seconds.
Liu achieved he world-class feat at the Spanish leg of the 2015 IAAF Race Walking Challenge held in La Coruna, Spain in June 2015. Liu also won the same event at the world championships held in Beijing.
The Best Pairing Award was given to the Chinese Men's relay team composed of Zhang Peimeng, Su Bingtian, Mo Youxuan and XIe Zhenye. Su was given the Best Breakthrough Award following his record setting 9.99 second relay time in 2015, a feat that he achieved twice that year.
The Best Team Award was given to the Chinese Women's volleyball team which won the 2015 World Cup held in Japan. The team's coach, Jenny Lang Ping, was awarded the Best Coach of the year award as well as the Sports Special Contribution award.
The annual CCTV Sports Award is the Chinese equivalent of the Laureus World Sports Awards, both awards giving bodies recognize sports personalities and their achievements, according to CNTV.cn.
Ning Zetao was a hot topic in international news when he posted a record of 47.87 seconds to beat out the competition. By achieving his feat, he became the first Asian to win a medal in the blue-ribbon world championship event since 1973.
