Swimming ace Zhang leads awards nominees

JINAN, Shandong province: World champion and triple gold medalist Zhang Lin leads the nominees at the 2009 Anta CCTV Sports Personality of the Year awards ceremony.

Regarded as China's "Sports Oscars", the ceremony honors the most outstanding groups or individuals in sports for the year.

Led by Zhang, who became China's first male world champion swimmer at the Rome World Championships in August, the nation's top sportsmen and sportswomen will vie for 11 awards.