Liu Guozheng (born March 7, 1980), a native of Wuhan, Hubei Province, is a Chinese men's table tennis player who was the coach of the Chinese national men's table tennis team. Since April 6, 2017, Liu Guozheng has officially served as the head coach of the men's first team of the Chinese national table tennis team. From 2018 to 2022, he served as the head of the coaching staff of the first team of Chinese men's table tennis.
Liu Guozheng
Liu Guozheng started playing at the age of 6 and entered the Hubei provincial team in 1991, the national second team in 1994, and the national team in 1995. In the 1999 ITTF Tour Finals, Liu Guozheng won the men's singles championship and came to prominence.
Liu Guozheng is characterized by good psychological quality, daring to fight, and often able to play at the level of competitions.
A year later, Liu Guozheng was selected for the team competition of the 45th World Table Tennis Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2000, and defeated Karlsson in the final to win a game for the Chinese team. In the same year, Liu Guozheng defeated the momentum of Ma Lin in the team competition and joined Kong Linghui and Liu Guoliang in the men's singles event of the Sydney Olympics. In the quarterfinals, Liu Guozheng lost to Sweden's Persson with an aggregate score of 1:3 to stop the quarterfinals.
In November 2000, Liu Guozheng won the Polish Open men's singles championship and men's doubles championship; In the same month, Liu Guozheng won the Swedish Open men's singles championship and men's doubles championship.
In 2001, Liu Guozheng was once again selected for the Chinese team to compete in the 46th World Table Tennis Championships held in Osaka, Japan. The Chinese team, which is aiming to regain the championship, was strongly blocked by the South Korean team in the semifinals.
After Yoo Kwo-jeong defeated Wu Sang-eun 2-0 in the first match, Kong Linghui lost 0:2 to veteran Kim Ze-so, and then Marin defeated South Korean teenager Yoo Seung-min. Kong Linghui, who appeared for the second time, played normally in the fourth set, but his opponent Wu Shangyin played at an excellent level, winning two consecutive sets to equalize the score. When the two sides were tied 2:2 on aggregate, Yoo Kook was facing South Korea's chief player Kim Ze-so in the tiebreaker.
Yoo Guo-jung, Kim Ze-so
In the crucial fifth set, Kim Ze-so won comfortably 21:16 as soon as he appeared, and the advantage in the second game was also clear. At this time, Cai Zhenhua showed the superb level of command in battle, and asked Liu Guo to decisively change the formation under passive conditions, and this move really worked.
Next, Kim Ze-so and Liu Guozheng, two masters, fought wits and courage, and the victory and defeat were only between the first line. When Liu Guozheng trailed at 19:20 in the second game, as long as Kim Ze-so scored another point, the Chinese team would not qualify for the final. At this time, Yoo Guozheng showed unusual composure, going from 20 draws to 21 draws to 22 draws, and finally defeated Kim Ze-so 24:22 in the second game. The third tiebreaker was the same as the second, with Kim Ze-so always in the lead, and Yoo Kook-jung once again chased 19-20. In the subsequent suffocating competition for match points, the 21-year-old Liu Guozheng chased 20 draws, 21 draws, 22 draws, 23 draws, and finally won 25-23 with tenacious willpower, contributing the most classic duel to the world table tennis world.
Yoo Guo-jung, Kim Ze-so
This battle was the most classic battle in Liu Guozheng's playing career, and his popularity soared, and he was awarded the title of "Anti-Korean Hero" by fans. Some fans even said: "Marry someone and marry Liu Guozheng".
Race wins
Subsequently, in the men's team final of the 46th World Table Tennis Championships, the Chinese team defeated Belgium 3-0 to win the men's team championship, and won the Swethlin Cup for the 13th time.
Liu Guozheng
In July 2001, Liu Guozheng won the US Open men's singles championship; In August 2001, Liu Guozheng won the men's doubles championship of the 8th National Table Tennis Games; In June 2002, Liu Guozheng won the Malaysian Open men's singles championship; In September 2002, Liu Guozheng won the men's team championship of the Busan Asian Games.
After that, Liu Guozheng participated in the team competition of the 47th World Table Tennis Championships in 2004 and won the championship with the team again, but due to injury, Liu Guozheng gradually faded out of the national team.
In 2008, Liu Guozheng, who was only 28 years old, announced his retirement.
After Liu Guozheng announced his retirement, he chose to stay in the national team and just started as a trainee coach, assisting coaches to coach Ma Lin and Wang Hao. After that, Liu Guozheng officially became the head coach of the national table tennis men's second team. In April 2017, he served as the coach of the men's team of the national table tennis team. From 2018 to 2022, he served as the head of the coaching staff of the first team of Chinese men's table tennis.
On September 10, 2022, table tennis world champion Liu Guozheng officially joined Tsinghua University and changed from a national team coach to a university teacher.
Liu Guozheng