Badminton's world governing body Wednesday named Malaysia's top men's singles player Lee Chong Wei and China's leading women's doubles pair Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang as 2011 players of the year.

It was the third consecutive player of the year award for world number one Lee, 29, who picked up five Superseries titles in the 2011 regular season and this week competes for his fourth consecutive Superseries finals title.

The awards were announced by the World Badminton Federation ahead of the tournament here in south China's Liuzhou which runs through Sunday and is the year's last major event.

Wang and Yu are the current Superseries women's doubles champions and won seven of the Superseries 12 titles this year, becoming the first shuttlers ever to win four consecutive Superseries events.

It was the first time in the history of the award that it went to a doubles pair, the federation said.