Promising swimmer Sun Yang and French Open champion Li Na won the best male and female Athlete of the Year honors at the 2011 CCTV (China Central Television) sports personality awarding ceremony on Sunday.

The annual CCTV sports awards, recognized as the Chinese version of the Laureus World Sports Awards, is taken as the premier honors on the Chinese sporting calendar.

All of the titles came from the votes cast by 120 sports specialists.

Li Na beat other four nominees, including table tennis world champion Ding Ning and star diver Wu Minxia to claim the honor of the Best Female Athlete.

The 29-year-old Li was the runner-up in 2011 Australian Open and went on to win the 2011 French Open, making her the first player from an Asian country to win a Grand Slam in singles.

"I'm now in Melbourne, preparing for the Australia Open to be open here on Jan. 16. I'm happy that I'm almost 30, but I'm still hungry for winning and still focusing on tennis," Li Na said through a VCR showed on the ceremony.

The 20-year-old Sun collected two golds at the 2011 World Championships, breaking the longest-standing record held by former Australian swimmer Grant Hackket in the 1,500 meters freestyle. Sun has staked his claim to succeed the Australian as the king of long-distance swimming.

Sun Yang of China celebrates after winning the gold medal in the men's 800m Freestyle Final during the FINA Swimming World Championships in Shanghai, China, 27 July 2011.

The Rookie of the Year was awarded to China’s short track speed skater Fan Kexin, while the Best non-Olympic Athlete award went to Hou Yifan, the youngest female world chess champion in the history.

Wang Haibin was named Best Coach of the Year as he led his men's foil team to crown at the World Fencing Championships.

Liu Xiang, men's 110m hurdles champion at the Athens Olympic Games and runner-up of World Championships 2011, was a surprised winner to take the Judging Committee's Special Award.

"It was a shock for me! I've never thought to win this award though I've won many honors in past years. I felt sad and sorrow when I watched out many athletes' retirement. However, I don't want to retire. I hope I can run in a happy mood as long as I can."

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