Enjoying a stunning year on the international scene, the 23 year old has been justly rewarded for her outstanding efforts in recent months.

It was her display at the 2019 ITTF-Pan American Championships that ignited her incredible campaign, capturing four gold medals in Asuncion. Thus she became the first player to achieve the feat in the tournament’s three year history.

However, it was the outing at the Uncle Pop 2019 ITTF Women’s World Cup that really caught the eye as she guided the United States to its first ever semi-final appearance at the prestigious event. Lily’s fantastic year on the world stage is further endorsed by her progress in the women’s world rankings. She has risen 69 positions to a personal best of no.26 in December.

She beat two exciting candidates to the award in China’s Wang Chuqin and Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yun-Ju; both of whom also deserve great credit for their achievements in the past year.

Lily becomes the first American to receive an ITTF Star Award and is only the second player based outside of Japan to collect the Breakthrough Star award. She follows India’s Manika Batra who succeeded last year.