Table tennis has a special meaning for Chinese, not only because it is China's national sport, but also because the Chinese table tennis team has been dominant in the world table tennis for decades.
In the history of the entire Chinese table tennis team, there have also been a lot of outstanding athletes, and today we will take stock of the top ten famous players in Chinese women's table tennis in the past 30 years (leaders such as Cao Yanhua and Qiao Hong in the early years are not counted).
One: Deng Yaping
In 1973, Deng Yaping was born in a sports family in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province!
Deng Yaping's father, Deng Dasong, was a player on the Henan Provincial Table Tennis Team when he was young, so Deng Yaping began to contact table tennis when he was two years old, and often went to the workers' club with his father to watch the game.
Father Deng Dasong has regrets about table tennis, and he hopes that his daughter Deng Yaping can complete his unfinished business when she grows up, so he has cultivated his daughter's interest in table tennis since she was a child.
When Deng Yaping was 5 years old, she began to play with her father, and at the beginning Deng Yaping practiced straight shooting, which is the traditional playing style of the Chinese table tennis team.
But Deng Yaping's height is too low, her development is very slow, and she has no advantage in practicing straight shooting, so the next year, her father Deng Dasong asked her daughter to change to horizontal shooting.
In the subsequent training, Deng Dasong asked Deng Yaping to only practice forehand attack, a special training method that cannot be found in table tennis textbooks.
It was also his father Deng Dasong who specially formulated this special training method that allowed Deng Yaping to lay a good foundation.
His father, Deng Dasong, used to be an athlete of the Henan Provincial Team, and he also coached the Henan Provincial Team after retiring, so when he was a child, Deng Yaping's dream was to enter the Henan Provincial Team.
But when she was 10 years old, that dream was shattered because she was too short.
Although she did not enter the Henan provincial team, Deng Yaping entered the Zhengzhou team with the help of her father to continue training.
Half a year after entering the Zhengzhou team, Deng Yaping led his teammates to defeat the Henan provincial team, and the leaders of the Henan provincial team realized their previous mistakes.
Faced with the call-up of the Henan provincial team, the hard-hearted Deng Yaping chose not to go, and it was not until three years later that the Henan provincial team changed its head coach, and she was willing to enter the Henan provincial team for training.
In the Henan Provincial Team, Deng Yaping still performed well, but because of her low height, she was not called up to the national team, and finally the national team coach Zhang Xielin discovered Deng Yaping and transferred her to the national team.
In the second year of entering the national team, Deng Yaping partnered with Qiao Hong to win the women's doubles championship at the World Championships, becoming the youngest world champion in the history of the Chinese table tennis team at the age of 16.
It was also at the age of 16 that Deng Yaping rose to No. 1 in the world rankings.
1991 World Championships Women's Singles and Women's Doubles Champion
1992 Olympic Women's Singles and Women's Doubles Champion
1995 World Championships Women's Singles, Women's Doubles, Women's Team Champion
She was the 1996 Women's Singles World Cup champion, Olympic Women's Singles and Women's Doubles champion
1997 World Championships Women's Singles, Women's Doubles, Women's Team Champion.
In 1997, Deng Yaping, who was only 24 years old, chose to retire, Deng Yaping was the first Grand Slam winner in the world women's table tennis, and it was she who began to form an absolute dominance in the world table tennis arena.
Therefore, Deng Yaping is not only the first of the top ten Chinese women's table tennis players in the past 30 years, but also the first person in the history of Chinese women's table tennis.
Two: Wang Nan
Wang Nan was born in 1978 in a working family in Fushun, Liaoning Province.
Wang Nan's parents and friends are not engaged in sports, so how did she get on the road of table tennis?
One day when Wang Nan was 6 years old, her mother saw a colleague's daughter holding a table tennis racket on the commuter bus to work, so she curiously asked her colleague's daughter to show her twice.
In this way, Wang Nan was sent by his mother to practice table tennis.
When she was a child, Wang Nan was very sensible, at that time she didn't know what table tennis was at all, and what she could do when she practiced this, but her parents asked her to practice, and she practiced very hard.
In this way, in 1992, 14-year-old Wang Nan entered the Liaoning provincial team, and successfully entered the national team in the National Games the following year.
Wang Nan just entered the national team, Deng Yaping was still at his peak, but at this time Wang Nan had already shown strong strength.
In 1997, Wang Nan won the women's team championship of the World Championships with Deng Yaping and others, and then Deng Yaping retired, and Wang Nan began to carry the banner.
1997 World Cup singles champion
In 1998, she won four championships in women's singles, women's doubles, women's team and mixed doubles at the Asian Games
1999 World Championships Women's Singles Champion
2000 Olympic Women's Singles and Women's Doubles Champion
2001 World Championships Women's Singles Champion
2003 World Championships Women's Singles Champion
2004 Olympic Women's Doubles Champion
2007 World Cup Women's Singles Champion
2008 Olympic Women's Team Champion
Wang Nan was 30 years old at the time of the Beijing Olympics, and the most important thing was that she suffered from thyroid cancer after the Athens Olympics, and she gradually paid at the end of 2006 to be able to participate in the Beijing Olympics and win the women's team championship and women's singles runner-up, which also moved many people.
In addition, Wang Nan's World Table Tennis Championships women's singles triple championship is still the only one, and she also has the only Ji-Geist Cup replica cup.
Three: Zhang Yining
Zhang Yining was born in Beijing in 1981 in a family of educated youth.
Zhang Yining was different from other little girls when she was young, she didn't like dolls or paintings, so she was always introverted and didn't speak.
It wasn't until she was 5 years old that she was taken to the table tennis hall by her uncle that she found something suitable for her to play.
In this way, Zhang Yining began to practice table tennis at the age of 5 and entered the Beijing Sports School at the age of 10.
Under the guidance of Li Falcon, Zhang Yining made very rapid progress and was selected for the national second team less than a year after entering the Beijing team.
In 1996, 15-year-old Zhang Yining entered the national first team.
When Zhang Yining first entered the national team, Deng Yaping had not yet retired, Wang Nan had not yet become a sister, and Zhang Yining could only start as a sparring partner (her style of play was very similar to that of Xiaoshan Zhili).
Zhang Yining lost to Wang Nan in the women's singles final of the 1999 World Championships, Wang Nan in the semifinals of the women's singles at the 2001 World Championships, and Wang Nan in the women's singles final of the 2003 World Championships.
It can be said that Wang Nan's three consecutive World Championships championships were almost "stepped on" on Zhang Yining's head.
But Zhang Yining was not discouraged at all, and he entered at least the semi-finals in three consecutive World Championships, which also proved that Zhang Yining's strength was second only to Wang Nan in the national table tennis at that time.
So in the case of Wang Nan's women's singles defeat at the 2004 Athens Olympics, Zhang Yining stood up strongly and won the women's singles championship and women's doubles championship.
In 2005, she won the women's singles and women's doubles at the World Championships and the women's singles at the World Cup
2008 Olympic women's singles and women's team champion
2009 World Championships Women's Singles Champion
Zhang Yining also became the first double-lap Grand Slam in the history of Chinese women's table tennis, and the only one so far.
Four: Guo Yue
Guo Yue was born in 1988 in Anshan, Liaoning Province, in a family of workers.
Guo Yue first practiced table tennis because her family wanted her to keep fit, so Guo Yue has been associated with table tennis since she was 6 years old.
Who knew that Guo Yue was very talented in table tennis, and after only two years of practice, she became one of the best athletes in the city sports school.
11-year-old Guo Yue was favored by Cai Zhenhua, who was the head coach of the Chinese table tennis team at the time, and entered the national second team training.
When she first entered the national team, Guo Yue was the youngest, but her newborn calf was not afraid of tigers, so she dared to pull Wang Nan, Zhang Yining and other main players to practice, and even made these main players a little afraid of her for a long time later.
Bronze medal in women's doubles at the 2004 Olympic Games
2007 World Championships Women's Singles and Mixed Doubles Champion
2008 Olympic Women's Team Champion
2012 Olympic Women's Team Champion
Judging from the results, Guo Yue is far inferior to the above three, but Guo Yue can definitely be called the most talented athlete in the history of Chinese table tennis.
After all, she was only 24 years old when she semi-retired in 2012, and the current female table tennis team members are 24 years old and are even called teenagers, and 24-year-old Guo Yue has participated in three Olympic Games.
But it's a shame that talent doesn't translate into achievement.
Five: Li Xiaoxia
In 1988, Li Xiaoxia was born in Anshan City, Liaoning Province, in an ordinary worker family!
Li Xiaoxia's practice of table tennis is also an accidental thing, when she was 7 years old was brought to her work unit by her mother, she saw a table tennis training class held in the factory at that time, Li Xiaoxia immediately liked it.
Li Xiaoxia's practice path was full of setbacks.
At first, Li Xiaoxia practiced in the table tennis training class in her mother's factory, but it didn't take long for this training class to be disbanded, and then Li Xiaoxia was sent to the sports school by her mother to practice.
After practicing in the sports school for several years, Li Xiaoxia has not been able to go further (favored by the city team and the provincial team), so when she was 9 years old, Li Xiaoxia went to Jinan, Shandong Province to practice.
After practicing in Jinan, Shandong Province for more than a year, Li Xiaoxia was selected for the Shandong Provincial Team.
In 2001, he entered the national second team and in 2002, he entered the national first team.
When Li Xiaoxia first entered the national team, she was suppressed by her Anshan hometown Guo Yue.
In this way, Li Xiaoxia has been in the shadow of Guo Yue in the early stage of her career (the two are the same age and the same place).
It wasn't until 2008 that Li Xiaoxia won the Women's Singles World Cup and began to emerge.
Since then, because Guo Yue has not been recognized by the head coach, Li Xiaoxia has begun to get more opportunities.
2012 London Olympics women's singles and women's team champion
2013 World Championships Women's Singles Champion
2016 Olympic Women's Team Champion
As a result, Li Xiaoxia became the fourth Grand Slam player of Chinese women's table tennis, and finally surpassed her fellow countryman Guo Yue.
Six: Ding Ning
Ding Ning was born in 1990 in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, into a sports family.
Ding Ning's father and mother are both athletes, but his father is a speed skater and his mother is a basketball player.
So Ding Ning's parents wanted to train their daughter to play basketball in the future, but she first asked Ding Ning to practice table tennis to exercise her reaction ability, who knew that Ding Ning would be out of control on the road of table tennis all of a sudden.
Two years later, 7-year-old Ding Ning entered Daqing Sports School.
Ding Ning's parents, who were athletes, knew that Heilongjiang's sports resources were not so good, so they took their daughter to participate in competitions and training all over the country.
In the end, Ding Ning was favored by the coach of the Beijing team and successfully entered the Beijing team.
After entering the Beijing team, Ding Ning's career began to take off, because the resources of the Beijing team are too good.
In 2005, 15-year-old Ding Ning entered the national first team, and at that time, in the same age group, there were not only Guo Yue, Li Xiaoxia and Liu Shiwen, all three of whom were ranked higher than Ding Ning at that time.
It wasn't until after the 2010 Moscow World Table Tennis Championships that Liu Shiwen fell into a trough because of two consecutive losses, and Ding Ning began to usher in his own spring.
2011 World Championships Women's Singles Champion
She was the women's team champion and women's singles runner-up at the 2012 London Olympics
Speaking of which, I have to talk about the women's singles final of the London Olympics, after all, there was a lot of controversy at that time, especially the decision of several free throws for Ding Ning.
It can be said that this game is even the most memorable game for Ding Ning, after all, she cried so sadly at the time, but Ding Ning finally came out.
2015 World Table Tennis Championships Women's Singles Champion
2016 Olympic women's singles and women's team champion
2017 World Championships Women's Singles and Women's Doubles Champion
In 2020, Ding Ning announced his retirement, and Ding Ning is also the fifth Grand Slam in the history of Chinese women's table tennis.
Seven: Liu Shiwen
Liu Shiwen was born in an ordinary family in Fushun, Liaoning Province in 1991.
Liu Shiwen's mother used to be a table tennis player when she was young, so when Liu Shiwen was born, her mother had the idea of training her to be a professional table tennis player.
In this way, when Liu Shiwen was 5 years old, she began to practice with her mother.
Later, he practiced with Wang Nan's enlightenment coach Zhang Jingqing, and even followed Coach Zhang Jingqing to Guangzhou.
Liu Shiwen was less than 8 years old when she went to Guangzhou, so her mother resigned to accompany her in Guangzhou.
In 2004, Liu Shiwen, who was less than 13 years old, was selected for the national second team, and a year later, 14-year-old Liu Shiwen entered the national first team.
In 2007, 16-year-old Liu Shiwen defeated world champion Li Xiaoxia in the women's singles final of the National Championships and won the first national championship in the adult category in her life.
In 2009, 18-year-old Liu Shiwen defeated Olympic champion Guo Yue in the final of the Women's Singles World Cup and won the first world singles title of her career.
It can be said that Liu Shiwen's career before the age of 18 was almost smooth, but after the age of 18, to be exact, the 2010 Moscow World Table Tennis Championships, Liu Shiwen encountered the biggest challenge of her career.
Shi Zhihao, the then head coach of the Chinese women's table tennis at the Moscow World Table Tennis Championships, chose to abandon famous players such as Li Xiaoxia and Guo Yue, and reused Liu Shiwen and Ding Ning.
But who knew that Liu Shiwen, who served as a single, lost two points in the final, making the Chinese women's table tennis lose the game, and this game has become a game that Liu Shiwen has never dared to mention.
But Liu Shiwen persevered
2016 Olympic Women's Team Champion
2017 World Championships Women's Doubles Champion
2019 World Championships Women's Singles Champion
Although she failed to achieve the Grand Slam, Liu Shiwen won everyone's respect with her strength, and even though she has faded out of the national team for two years, she is still one of the most popular players in Chinese women's table tennis.
Eight: Chen Meng
Chen Meng was born in 1994 in Qingdao, Shandong Province, in a sports family!
Chen Meng's mother used to be a table tennis player, and when Chen Meng was a child, she was often taken by her mother to play together, and slowly Chen Meng liked the feeling of playing.
He started practicing at the age of 5, and at the age of 10, Chen Meng was selected for the Shandong Provincial Team, entered the national second team at the age of 13, and entered the national first team at the age of 16.
In the early stage of Chen Meng's career, he has always been overshadowed by a player of the same age, this player is Zhu Yuling, who is one year younger than Chen Meng.
Because Zhu Yuling's performance at that time was too good, it was not until 2017 that Chen Meng, who was 23 years old, won the singles championship of the ITTF Finals, which let many people know that the national team still had such a No. 1 player, and this was the only result that Chen Meng could get at that time.
In the next two or three years, Zhu Yuling fell into a trough, the veteran Liu Shiwen was plagued by injuries, and the teenager Wang Manyu also fell into a trough before the Olympics.
And because of the epidemic, Grand Slam Ding Ning chose to retire, and Liu Shiwen took the risk of surgery, which also gave Chen Meng a chance and made her the only player who could provoke the big beam in national table tennis at that time.
In this case, Chen Meng participated in the Tokyo Olympics and won the women's singles championship and the women's team championship, making her only one world championship away from the Grand Slam, but Chen Meng has not been able to realize her dream in the last two World Championships.
I don't know if Chen Meng, who is 30 years old in the future, will be able to become the 6th Grand Slam in national table tennis.
Nine: Wang Manyu
Wang Manyu was born in 1999 in an ordinary family in Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province.
Wang Manyu's parents are not engaged in sports, the reason why she embarked on the road of table tennis is because she is developing too fast, her body is weak, in order to enhance her physique, the doctor recommended that she practice table tennis, a sport with almost no physical confrontation.
In this way, 5-year-old Wang Manyu began to practice table tennis.
Originally, his parents just let Wang Manyu exercise, but who knew that Wang Manyu was very talented in table tennis, and she loved this sport very much, at the age of 7, Wang Manyu was favored by Qiqihar Sports School, and at the age of 9, she was selected for the provincial training team.
After training for five years in the Heilongjiang provincial team, 14-year-old Wang Manyu won the women's singles championship of the National Junior Table Tennis Championship and was successfully selected for the national second team.
After training in the national second team for more than two years, 17-year-old Wang Manyu finally entered the national first team in 2016.
When she first entered the national first team, Wang Manyu won three championships in women's singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles at the National Championships.
At this time, the veteran Li Xiaoxia announced her retirement, so Wang Manyu, who had just entered the first team, replaced the vacant main position.
In those two years, Wang Manyu made very rapid progress, especially in 2018, when Wang Manyu was in big and small competitions, and this year was even called "Wang Manyu's year" by some fans.
According to this trend, Wang Manyu is likely to participate in the women's singles competition at the Tokyo Olympics, but who knows that she fell into a trough before the Olympics, and finally could only replace Liu Shiwen as a P card to participate in the women's team competition, and won the women's team championship at the Tokyo Olympics with teammates Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha.
After the Tokyo Olympics, Wang Manyu rose strongly and won the women's singles championship of the World Championships, the women's singles and women's doubles championships of the National Games.
However, at last year's World Table Tennis Championships in Durban, Wang Manyu once again fell into a trough, wondering if she could win the women's singles quota for the Paris Olympics?
Ten: Sun Yingsha
Sun Yingsha was born in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province in 2000!
Sun Yingsha's parents and relatives are not engaged in sports, and the reason why she embarked on the road of table tennis is because her father loves to watch sports games, and she likes to watch with her father when she is young.
In these sports competitions, Sun Yingsha has a soft spot for table tennis, and even her parents bought her a table tennis racket.
When Sun Yingsha was 5 years old, her parents sent her to practice table tennis.
After practicing for 5 years, 10-year-old Sun Yingsha entered the Hebei provincial team.
In 2015, 15-year-old Sun Yingsha won the women's singles championship of the National Junior Championship and entered the national second team.
In 2017, Sun Yingsha, who was less than 17 years old, was selected for the national first team.
Like her predecessors Li Xiaoxia and Chen Meng, Sun Yingsha has been overshadowed by Wang Manyu's brilliance when she first entered the national team.
But this period did not last long, Sun Yingsha relied on her super strength to squeeze out Zhu Yuling, who had been in a period of declining strength, and entered the main lineup.
In 2019, 19-year-old Sun Yingsha partnered Wang Manyu to win the women's doubles title at the World Championships, and although she lost to teammate Chen Meng in the women's singles final at the Tokyo Olympics, she performed well in the women's team competition and won the women's team championship with her teammates.
After the Tokyo Olympics, Sun Yingsha has been on the rise, Houston World Table Tennis Championships partner Wang Manyu won the women's doubles championship, Durban World Table Tennis Championships partner Wang Chuqin won the mixed doubles championship, and she also won the women's singles championship.
Now that the Paris Olympics are approaching, Sun Yingsha is the only one in the women's team who has locked the women's singles quota for the Paris Olympics, and I don't know who will end up with the remaining women's singles quota and women's team quota?
(The choice of Wang Manyu and Sun Yingsha instead of Li Ju, Zhu Yuling and others is to fancy the follow-up potential of Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu, after all, they are only in their early 20s now).