Twenty-seven-year-old Ma won the men's world title on home soil in Suzhou following a victory in the final over compatriot Fang Bo - and is one of four players in the frame for the Male Table Tennis Star prize.

The current world number one's success crowned him as world champion for the first time, while 2015 also saw him clinch the men's World Cup title.

"It's an honour for me to be nominated this year, and I'm glad that my efforts are being seen and recognised by the ITTF," said Ma.

"It has been a fruitful year, and I hope to keep up with my good performance this year in the future."

Also nominated for Male Star is another Chinese player Fan Zhendong, who won the Asian Championships in Pattaya, Thailand after ousting team-mate and world number two Xu Xin in the final.

The event was an incredible one for the 18-year-old, who completed a clean sweep of titles by also winning men's doubles, mixed doubles and team gold.

Completing the nominees are Japan's 2014 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals champion Jun Mizutani and German Dimitrij Ovtcharov, who completed a continental treble by winning singles gold at the European Championships, European Cup and European Games. 

Twenty-five-year-old Ding, meanwhile, is nominated for Female Table Tennis Star after her world title win, which saw her beat fellow Chinese Liu Shiwen in the final.

Liu is also nominated after clinching the Women's World Cup crown, while Germany's Petrissa Solja, the World Cup bronze medallist, gets a nod after a fine, and somewhat surprise, run to the semi-finals.

Japanese player Kasumi Ishikawa completes the list after winning the 2014 World Tour Grand Finals.

The awards are due to presented at a ceremony in Portuguese capital Lisbon on December 9 at the Patio da Gal.

All of the nominees have been selected by the ITTF Athletes' Commission, and fans will now select the winners by voting on an online poll here until a closing date of November 25.

Six other categories will be contested - Male Para Table Tennis Star, Female Para Table Tennis Star, Table Tennis Star Coach, Table Tennis Star Point, Table Tennis Breakthrough Star and Table Tennis Fair Play Star.

The nominees for these awards will be announced in the coming days.

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November 2015: Shiwen seals fourth ITTF Women's World Cup crown with dominant win over Ishikawa
October 2015: Solja launches stunning comeback to beat home favourite Fukuhara at ITTF Women's World Cup
October 2015: Ma keeps Grand Slam dream alive after winning ITTF World Cup crown
October 2015: Ovtcharov defends men's singles title at ITTF European Championships
October 2015: Fan sweeps Asian Table Tennis Championships titles with four golds in Thailand