By Gary Anderson

January 8 - Olympic and world champion Zhang Jike is up for a prize at the 2013 ITTF Star Awards driven by GAC Motor ©AFP/Getty ImagesThe International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) today announced GAC Motor as the title sponsor of the governing body's 2013 ITTF Star Awards which are set to take place at the Raffles Hotel in Dubai on coming Saturday (January 11).

The inaugural awards ceremony will now be known as the 2013 ITTF Star Awards driven by GAC Motor, a subsidiary group of the ITTF's long-term partner GAC Group.

GAC Group, based in Guangzhou, China, recently signed an extension to their title sponsorship of the ITTF World Tour, which now runs until the end of 2015.

Featuring the top table tennis players in the world, the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals is due to get underway in Dubai tomorrow and run until Sunday (January 12) and have a total prize fund of $1 million (£600,000/€732,000).

"GAC Motor is excited to lend our support to hosting a successful inaugural ITTF Star Awards, and we are proud to recognise the efforts of these world-class athletes," said Wu Song, director and general manager of GAC Motor.

"Table tennis has the second highest participation in the world, and is one of the most popular global sports.

"GAC Motor, through supporting the ITTF World Tour and title-sponsoring the ITTF Star Awards, is proud to showcase to the world the Chinese automobile industry's ability in creating world-class brands."

London 2012 champion Thomas Schmidberger became European champion in 2013 and is nominated in the male Para-table tennis category ©Getty ImagesLondon 2012 champion Thomas Schmidberger became European champion in 2013 and is nominated in the male Para-table tennis category ©Getty Images


























The 2013 Star Awards will feature seven awards on the night, including male and female player of the year and male and female Para-table tennis players of the year.

The winners of these four awards will be chosen by an expert ITTF panel of judges and some of the names in contention include China's double world champion and London 2012 gold medallist Zhang Jike in the men's category while compatriot, Li Xiaoxia, who is also the reigning Olympic and world champion, leads the women's category.

Germany's London 2012 champion Thomas Schmidberger leads the way in the men's Para-table tennis category after adding European gold to his collection in 2013 while Sweden's Paralympic champion Anna-Carin Ahlquist heads the women's list after another successful year in which she took singles gold at the European Championships before taking both singles and team gold in Argentina, Slovenia, Germany, and Italy.

There are also three other awards on offer, which will be decided by fans who will vote for their own male and female players of the year as well as their favourite rally or shot of the year.

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