5. Sun Yang (male, swimming)

Sun won gold medals in the men's 200m and 400m freestyle at the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. The 28-year-old's 400m freestyle victory was his fourth straight worlds title over that distance, and his 11 World Championship gold medals are only four short of American legend Michael Phelps' record.

6. Xu Can (male, boxing)

Xu, 25, won China's first World Boxing Association (WBA) title after defeating Jesus Rojas of Puerto Rico in January, and retained his WBA featherweight title with victories over Shun Kubo of Japan and American challenger Manny Robles III, in May and November respectively.

7. Shi Tingmao (female, diving)

Shi claimed double golds in the women's 3m springboard individual and synchronized diving at the FINA World Swimming Championships. It was the 28-year-old's fourth and China's 10th straight title in the synchronized event. Shi has taken at least one world championships gold medal since her 2011 debut in the competition.

8. Yi Jianlian (male, basketball)

Yi, 32, became the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA)'s all-time leading scorer on November 21 by posting 20 points against Tianjin, improving his career tally to 11,177 points to surpass former Guangdong teammate Zhu Fangyu's record of 11,165.

9. Cai Xuetong (female, snowboard)

Last season saw 26-year-old Cai put her name into the record books as the most successful World Cup freestyle snowboarder of all time, by winning her fifth halfpipe Crystal Globe.

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