Kuala Lumpur, Dec 4 (IANS): Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen and Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Tai Tzu Ying were named the Badminton World Federation's (BWF) Male and Female Player of the Year respectively in recognition of their stellar runs this season.

Denmark's Axelson was rewarded for his extraordinary run starting from the Barcelona Spain Masters in Feburary 2020, and made 10 finals in 11 individual tournaments, winning seven of those, including gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the world governing body of badminton announced during its awards ceremony on Friday.

Tai won the All England 2020 and then struck a rich vein of form at the three-tournament Asian Leg in January 2021, making all three finals, and clinching the BWF World Tour Finals 2020, Xinhua reports. The Chinese Taipei player then made the final of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, being defeated in a thrilling match by Chinese shuttler Chen Yufei.

Due to the disruptions caused to the sport's tournaments by COVID-19 over the last two years, the period of consideration for the BWF Player of the Year awards was from November 2019 until 31 October 2021.

Olympic champions Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin of Chinese Taipei were named the Most Improved Player of the Year, while Indonesia's Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu were named the Pair of the Year.

Chinese shuttler Qu Zimo was named Male Para Badminton Player of the Year, and Leani Ratri Oktila of Indonesia won the Female Para Badminton Player of the Year. France's Lucas Mazur/Faustine Noel were honored with the Para Badminton Pair of the Year award.