by Simon Daish

Fending off challenges from an all-star cast of nominees featuring last year’s winner Timo Boll, Hugo Calderano and Tomokazu Harimoto, Fan Zhendong graciously accepted the 2018 Male Table Tennis Star award at the Grand Hyatt Hotel tonight in Incheon.

Winner of three Men’s Singles titles on the 2018 ITTF World Tour, Fan Zhendong also went on to claim the Liebherr 2018 Men’s World Cup and ends the year as World no.1, a position he has held since April 2018.

This is the first time that Fan Zhendong has been named as Male Star of the year at the glamorous annual awards ceremony and becomes the third player from his country to have received the prestigious prize.