Native to the western United States, the star lily thrives in tough environments like windswept prairies and deserts. One Lily from Redwood City, California did particularly well on foreign soil this year. This star is Lily Zhang, who was just named the "Breakthrough Star" of 2019 by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). At 23, Zhang is already a six-time US national champion in women's singles. After first hanging her 2019 calendar with a world ranking of #95, she proceeded to have a year for the ages. Among Zhang's many highlights was her dominant performance at the ITTF PanAm Championships. Held this September in Asunción, Paraguay, the intercontinental tournament saw Zhang claim every gold medal on offer, a perfect four-for-four in women's singles, doubles, teams and mixed doubles. Not content to flex her hemispheric hegemony, Zhang was ready to take on the world. At the Women's World Cup, held this October in Chengdu, China, the always-confident Zhang surprised even herself by notching upset after upset on her way to the semifinals, the best-ever performance by any American in World Cup history. "I really did not expect that I could get this far in the tournament," said Zhang after reaching the penultimate round, where she would lose to champion-elect Liu Shiwen of China. "I am just so happy right now." For her sustained excellence, Zhang has been rewarded with a steady climb in the world rankings, from 95th all the way up to a career-best 26th in the world. As if that were not sufficient validation of her meteoric ascent, today Zhang was named the "Breakthrough Star" of 2019 by the ITTF at the Star Awards gala in Zhengzhou, China. "Wow, this is very unexpected," said Zhang as she received the honor. "I just feel super grateful and super humbled to even be nominated amongst this incredible group of athletes." No one could dispute that this award is richly deserved by the USA's Breakthrough Star Lily, whose toughness and adaptability to challenging conditions would make her namesake flora proud. By adorning Zhang with a golden trophy, however, the ITTF may in fact be guilty of gilding the Lily.

More at ITTF