In the history of Chinese women's table tennis, there was once such an athlete, she and Wang Nan and called Gemini stars, after Deng Yaping retired, she and Wang Nan together carried the banner of Chinese women's table tennis to help Chinese women's table tennis continue to write brilliant.
After missing the Athens Olympic Games, she left the national table tennis, but in the second year's National Games, she still chose to represent the mother team to return to the competition again, and took the initiative to compete in the team competition, challenging the then new Slam to advocate Yining, and successfully defeated Zhang Yining.
She is Li Ju.
Li Ju can be said to be the representative of the masculinity of women's technology, the playing style is fierce, and has high-quality rotation and speed, while the backhand can also send out a bounce, but compared with Wang Nan, Li Ju's stability in the competition is not enough, which also leads to the delay in breaking through in some competitions.
In the Sydney Olympic Games, Li Ju successfully reached the women's singles final, and Wang Nan fought fiercely in the final for five rounds, and finally lost to Wang Nan 2-3, in the women's doubles, Li Ju partnered with Wang Nan and successfully won the final women's doubles championship.
After the 2001 National Games, Li Ju chose to retire due to physical reasons.
I thought that Li Ju would fade out of the table tennis arena, but unexpectedly in 2002, Wang Nan encountered Waterloo at the Busan Asian Games, when Zhang Yining was still relatively young, it was still difficult to carry the banner of Chinese women's table tennis, Niu Jianfeng, Guo Yan and Guo Yue had not yet achieved too good results, in this case, the national table tennis coaching team issued an invitation to Li Ju, hoping that Li Ju could come back and lead the Chinese women's table tennis to rebuild its glory.
Although Li Ju had left the national table tennis for more than a year at that time, when the national table tennis encountered difficulties and needed herself, Li Ju resolutely chose to return.
In the 2003 World Table Tennis Championships, Li Ju, who returned only three months, successfully reached the women's singles final four in the World Table Tennis Championships, and in the semifinals, Li Ju lost to Zhang Yining. Despite this, Li Ju is still the most stable athlete in women's table tennis besides Wang Nan and Zhang Yining.
Just when Li Ju was full of confidence and looking forward to his second Olympic trip, unexpectedly, when the registration for the Athens Olympic Games was closed, Li Ju was not reported to the lineup of the Athens Olympic Games, which also made Li Ju sad, and Li Ju left the national team on the same day and retired for the second time in her career!
At that time, it was mainly Niu Jianfeng who competed with Li Ju in the Athens Olympic Games, and when the team voted for election, Li Ju was going to be ahead of Niu Jianfeng, but in the end, the coaching team leaders did not choose Li Ju, but chose Niu Jianfeng!
Although he was very unwilling, Li Ju was helpless.
After retiring from the army, Li Ju made a comeback again in the 2005 National Games, this time, Li Ju fought for her hometown!
In the women's team 1/4 final match, Li Ju took the initiative to apply to be the first singles, Li Ju said that the Jiangsu team now has difficulties, as a veteran, I must stand up!
In the fourth set of the game, Li Ju faced Zhang Yining, when the Jiangsu team was 1-2 behind, if Li Ju lost to Zhang Yining again, Jiangsu team will be out, in this case, Li Ju against Zhang Yining, almost no one believes that Li Ju can defeat Zhang Yining!
However, in the face of the new Slam to advocate Yining, Li Ju had no fear, and after a hard battle, she finally defeated Zhang Yining with a thrilling score of 3-2!
Although in the end, Jiangsu team still lost to Beijing team 2-3, but Li Ju said: I have no regrets, because I tried my best, I did not leave any regrets!
After defeating Zhang Yining, Li Ju excitedly said that she would treasure the racket, because she defeated Zhang Yining, and Zhang Yining would never have a chance to win herself again!
After the National Games, Li Ju completely withdrew from the table tennis arena and has never played an official game since.