An prevents awards sweep by Chinese shuttlers

HANGZHOU - China were the big winners at the Badminton World Federation's (BWF) 2024 awards ceremony, claiming four of the five main categories at a gala dinner in Hangzhou on Dec 9.

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The only major accolade to elude them was the Female Player of the Year, which went to South Korea's world No. 1 An Se-young for a second year running.

The 22-year-old, who won the Paris Olympic gold and four BWF World Tour titles this season, claimed the prestigious year-end accolade ahead of Indonesia's Gregoria Tunjung and China's Wang Zhiyi and Han Yue.

But China's Shi Yuqi was named the Male Player of the Year while his compatriots swept the doubles' awards - Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang (men's doubles), Liu Shengshu/Tan Ning (women's doubles) and Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping (mixed doubles).

Shi had a breakthrough season in which he attained the world No. 1 ranking for the first time, helped China win the Thomas Cup and also won four BWF World Tour titles.

He pipped a strong field which included Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien-chen and Denmark's Viktor Axelsen and Anders Antonsen.