| To celebrate one month to go until the 2016 ITTF Star Awards to on 8 December in Doha, Qatar, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has announced the nominees for the 2016 Breakthrough Star & 2016 Star Coach awards. The 2016 ITTF Star Awards will be the fourth edition of the ITTF's year-ending extravaganza to honor the achievements of athletes and coaches in 2016, this time in Doha, Qatar's famous Sheraton Hotel. The Breakthrough Star award recognizes the rising stars in the sport while the ITTF Star Coach acknowledges the people behind our top players and celebrates their spectacular performance on the international stage Nominees in the running for the 2016 Breakthrough Star & Star Coach are: Breakthrough Star presented by the Monday Club: Team England made up of Liam PITCHFORD, Paul DRINKHALL & Sam WALKER - Reached the Semifinals of the World Team Championships for the first time in 33 years, as well as Rio 2016 Olympic Games Quarterfinals for the first time for Great Britain. Tomokazu HARIMOTO (JPN) - Started the year ranking 10th in the world amongst under 18 players, and by July, Harimoto was ranked number 1 after a historic win at the ITTF World Tour Japan Open Under 21 event at just 12 years of age. Miu HIRANO (JPN) - At 16 years of age, Hirano became the youngest ever Women's World Cup Champion, and the first ever Japanese player to win the title. Nomination Video:https://youtu.be/io0cGsBWXIE. Star Coach presented by Butterfly: Patrick CHILA (FRA) - Led Emmanuel LEBESSON and Simon GAUZY to the European Championships Men's Singles Final, the first time two Frenchmen ever contested the final, and the first French champion since 1976. Alan COOKE (ENG) - Led the English men's team to the semifinals of the World Team Championships for the first time in 33 years, as well as the Great Britain team to the Olympic Quarterfinals for the first time. LIU Guoliang (CHN) - Led the Chinese men's team to all the major titles in 2016: World Team Champion, Olympic Team & Singles Champions and Men's World Cup Champion. Nomination Video:https://youtu.be/rcvmY_sely0. Fans are now able to vote for their Male & Female Star players, as well as for the Star Point of the year on ITTFStarAwards.com! Voting closes on 13 November 2016. The winners of the 2016 Male & Female Table Tennis Star will based on 50% on fans' votes, and 50% on results from the expert panel judging, made up of their peers, and media experts, while the Star Point will be fully based on fans' choice. The remaining awards (Star Coach, Breakthrough Star, Male & Female Para Table Tennis Star, and the Fair Play Star) will be dependent on expert judging. For more information on the ITTF Star Awards, or to organize press accreditation, please go to ITTFStarAwards.com contact Matt Pound at media@ittfmail.com. |
