File photo taken on Oct. 1, 2019 shows Chinese women's volleyball team taking part in a mass pageantry celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Beijing, capital of China. China's women's volleyball team produced a perfect run of 11 victories at the 13th FIVB Women's World Cup from September 14 to 29, winning the tournament for the fifth time. It was also the Chinese team's 10th major international title, including the Olympic Games, World Championships and World Cup. (Xinhua/Xing Guangli)
BEIJING, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- As the sporting year draws to a close, here are Xinhua News Agency's top 10 Chinese athletes of 2019:
1. China's women's volleyball team
China's women's volleyball team produced a perfect run of 11 victories at the 13th FIVB Women's World Cup from September 14 to 29, winning the tournament for the fifth time. It was also the Chinese team's 10th major international title, including the Olympic Games, World Championships and World Cup.
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. The Chinese pair also triumphed at the Cup of China and NHK Trophy before being crowned for the first time at the season-ending ISU Grand Prix finals in December.
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 beat teammate Chen Meng en route to her first World Championships singles title in Budapest in April. The 28-year-old also won a record fifth ITTF Women's World Cup crown after seeing off compatriot Zhu Yuling in October. Liu also partnered Xu Xin to claim the mixed doubles title at the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals, and was named the 2019 ITTF Female Table Tennis Star of the Year.
5. Sun Yang (male, swimming)
Sun won gold medals in the men's 200m and 400m freestyle at the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. The 28-year-old's 400m freestyle victory was his fourth straight worlds title over that distance, and his 11 World Championship gold medals are only four short of American legend Michael Phelps' record.
6. Xu Can (male, boxing)
Xu, 25, won China's first World Boxing Association (WBA) title after defeating Jesus Rojas of Puerto Rico in January, and retained his WBA featherweight title with victories over Shun Kubo of Japan and American challenger Manny Robles III, in May and November respectively.
7. Shi Tingmao (female, diving)
Shi claimed double golds in the women's 3m springboard individual and synchronized diving at the FINA World Swimming Championships. It was the 28-year-old's fourth and China's 10th straight title in the synchronized event. Shi has taken at least one world championships gold medal since her 2011 debut in the competition.
8. Yi Jianlian (male, basketball)
Yi, 32, became the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA)'s all-time leading scorer on November 21 by posting 20 points against Tianjin, improving his career tally to 11,177 points to surpass former Guangdong teammate Zhu Fangyu's record of 11,165.
9. Cai Xuetong (female, snowboard)
Last season saw 26-year-old Cai 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. She raised the snatch world record once again at the IWF World Cup. She broke world record 13 times in six Tokyo Olympic ranking point competitions of the season.
