From December 8 to 12, 2025, the 16th World Congress of the International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP) was held in Hong Kong, China. During the congress, the awards committee announced that professor Zhang Liwei from the School of Psychology at Beijing Sport University (BSU) had been awarded with the "Distinguished International Sport Psychologist Award." The award is the highest honor presented by the ISSP, making professor Zhang the first Asian scholar to receive this distinction.

The award certificate presented to professor Zhang Liwei.

In his acceptance speech, Zhang reflected on his journey from a professional athlete to a sport psychology researcher. His research focuses primarily on self-control and mental fatigue. He noted that attention-related self-control studies are expected to become a persistent hotspot in sport psychology research. Zhang also briefly introduced the 2×2 fatigue classification system, which categorizes fatigue based on its nature and duration. Drawing on 25 years of experience providing psychological support for Chinese athletes during their Olympic preparations, he emphasized that integrating Eastern philosophical wisdom with Western approaches to mental skills training can play an important role in advancing both research and application in sport psychology.

The International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP), established in Italy in 1964, is an international academic organization dedicated to advancing research and practice in sport psychology while opposing political, religious, and racial discrimination. The ISSP holds its World Congress every four years and presents four major awards: the Distinguished International Sport Psychologist Award, the ISSP Honor Award, the Developing Scholar Award, and the ASSP Developing Practitioner Award.

The Distinguished International Sport Psychology Award is given in recognition of outstanding and distinguished, long-term, original contributions to the advancement of sport psychology. It is the highest award given by ISSP. Award recipients must have made substantial and original contributions to research through peer-reviewed publications, articles in professional journals, books, and conference presentations, over a significant period of time; and be recognized for their academic and professional leadership in sport psychology at the highest level over a significant period of time. Upon review of this award, it is bestowed upon one longstanding member every four years at the ISSP World Congress provided there is a qualifying recipient.