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In the sunny April, the spring color of Panjin in Liaoning is pleasant. This prestigious "steel capital" industrial city is holding a unique table tennis promotion activity - "The Glory of National Ball", and the heat continues to heat up.
At the event, Li Xiaoxia, a former world champion and now a good wife and mother, told the children about her table tennis career full of glory but also full of twists and turns with a smile on her face. Her professional guidance was patient and meticulous, as if people were immersed in those fierce decisive moments, stirring up waves of enthusiasm in the hearts of the students.
"This sport has not only shaped our strong physique, but also tempered our unwavering will......," Li Xiaoxia said affectionately, recalling her bumpy table tennis road, and the bitter years intertwined with tears and sweat flashed in her mind. From being sent to a table tennis class by her mother at the age of 8, to the setbacks she suffered after joining the national team, until she finally realized her dream of a Grand Slam in 2013, she wrote a legendary chapter with her extremely tenacious fighting spirit.
Now, the 34-year-old Li Xiaoxia has not stayed away from table tennis after retiring, but has returned to the arena as a promoter in a new capacity. She launched the "Xia Travel Project", traveled to schools, enterprises and other places across the country, and actively interacted with the majority of table tennis enthusiasts, hoping to spread the seeds of this sport further and deeper.
In 1988, Li Xiaoxia was born in Anshan, Liaoning Province, and a little girl's table tennis dream set sail. When she was 8 years old, she stepped into the palace of table tennis under the guidance of her mother, Wang's mother, and since then she has fallen in love with the sport, sweating and working the court every day.
As a teenager, Li Xiaoxia grew up rapidly under the careful guidance of Coach Zhang Hongzhi, and she quickly emerged as a talent. Whether she was weathered by wind or rain or illness, she never took a leave of absence or stopped training, and always adhered to the belief that "training is a mission". However, the good times are always short-lived, Coach Zhang Hongzhi resigned for some reason, and Li Xiaoxia had to leave her hometown Anshan and go to Jinan Sports School to continue her studies. The pain of being uprooted from home and the hardships of life made this strong girl go through countless difficulties, but she finally won the favor of the national team with her extraordinary fighting spirit and was successfully selected.
After stepping onto the big stage of the national table tennis team, Li Xiaoxia's career has faced unprecedented challenges. In 2002, the winner made a major European flight to Europe after winning the national tournament, but it was remarkable that she suffered a dramatic bald defeat against Croatian star Boros, a major defeat that gave her first insight into the depth of the gap between her and the world's best players.
What hurt her heart even more was that for several years, Li Xiaoxia was unable to realize her dream wish to participate in the World Table Tennis Championships. In 2005, something even worse happened - due to a sudden illness, she had to be forced to withdraw from the competition on the eve of the registration deadline, and returned to the Shandong team to recuperate with endless loss and incomprehension.
During this most difficult time, head coach Li Falcon was firmly by her side, giving her confidence and strength to help her get out of the low point of her career. In the face of relentless blows and setbacks again and again, Li Xiaoxia has always adhered to the persistent pursuit of her dreams, she has turned pressure into motivation to move forward, devoted herself to monotonous and boring training, and actively analyzed herself with her tenacious and unyielding fighting spirit.
Although she has suffered many defeats in the confrontation with top masters such as Wang Nan and Zhang Yining, each defeat has accumulated valuable practical experience for her. Under the careful guidance and encouragement of head coach Li Falcon, Li Xiaoxia finally regained her confidence from the shadows and ushered in a new peak in her career. In 2013, with the eagerness of anticipating the World Table Tennis Championships, she reached the final for the fourth time.
"This is my last chance!" Li Xiaoxia confessed to her mentor Li Falcon before the game. Years of defeat and regret are about to come to an end at this critical moment. She is determined to use her fists to break the shackles of fate.
In the finals, Li Xiaoxia and her old rival Liu Shiwen competed fiercely. At the beginning of the game, the two sides came and went, and the tense and exciting competition was dizzying. After four rounds of desperate battle, Li Xiaoxia took the lead with a 3:1 advantage, and was only one step away from the coveted championship.
However, at this critical moment that decided the outcome of the game, Liu Shiwen suddenly burst out with amazing energy, and fought back with all her strength to win two cities in a row, Li Xiaoxia has never been so close to the championship, but she has never been on the edge of the cliff of defeat like now.
At this moment, her heart is full of unwillingness to the past and longing for the future. Fortunately, Li Xiaoxia was not crushed by her opponent's powerful offensive. She took a deep breath, suppressed all the anxiety in her heart, and threw herself into this life-and-death showdown.
"The brave wins!" Li Xiaoxia is like a furnace standing in flames, constantly tempering and forging her own tenacity and perseverance. At the age of 18, she was hit hard by her formidable opponent Guo Yue in the semi-finals of the World Table Tennis Championships, but just two years later, at the World Table Tennis Championships in Yokohama, fate seemed to play a joke on her again, and Guo Yue once again blocked her path to victory.
Time came to the 2011 World Table Tennis Championships in Rotterdam, at this time Li Xiaoxia was already at the peak of her career, but she was defeated by the young player Ding Ning.
Failure after failure has put Li Xiaoxia under tremendous pressure, but she has never given up her dream. Today, she finally waited for the long-awaited opportunity! The competition entered the most intense stage, Li Xiaoxia took a deep breath, sometimes let out a deafening shout, and sometimes hit the ground violently with her fists, as if to vent all her frustrations and regrets.
At this moment, Li Xiaoxia looked up to the sky and roared, tears bursting out of her eyes. For countless sleepless nights, she told herself like this: Never give up! Now, she has finally gotten rid of the shadow of backwardness and become the fourth Grand Slam winner in the history of Chinese women's table tennis.
When Li Falcon excitedly rushed up to hug her tightly, Li Xiaoxia poured out her inner joy and pride in her teacher's ear. This honor not only belongs to her personally, but also to those who have worked her.
In the 2016 Rio Olympics, Li Xiaoxia, as the captain of the Chinese women's table tennis team, led her teammates Liu Shiwen, Ding Ning and others to go together, and finally swept the Brazilian team and won the 17th gold medal of the Olympic Games for the national delegation.
This decisive battle is also the last battle for the motherland in Li Xiaoxia's table tennis career.
At that time, Li Xiaoxia was only 28 years old and was in the heyday of her career. As a new Grand Slam winner, she has an unrivalled reputation and status in the table tennis world, and her strength is still unmatched, a decision that undoubtedly shocked many people.
The outside world lamented, speculating whether she was dissatisfied and complained about the national team.
Two months later, Li Xiaoxia updated her social media feeds again, appearing to be critical of the national team coaching staff. It is said that as early as before the Rio Olympics, coach Kong Linghui asked Li Xiaoxia to give the ball to teammate Ding Ning in the game.
Many believe that this may be the direct cause of her hasty announcement of retirement.
Until August 2017, Li Xiaoxia showed the crystallization of her love on her personal Weibo - happily posted her marriage certificate, announcing to the world the wonderful moment when she and Mr. Zhai Yiming, who have been in love for many years, tied the knot, and also opened a new chapter in their lives!
Immediately afterwards, she welcomed three lovely babies, which filled this warm little family with laughter.
Since then, Li Xiaoxia has not had any complaints, completely vetoing speculation that she is melancholy for the national team. And her original intention in making this decision was just to devote herself to a new marriage and family life.
Looking back, perhaps it was this unique decision that became another legendary story of her perseverance to break the shackles of fate again.
Although Li Xiaoxia has chosen to retire, she has not really left the table tennis arena, but has devoted herself to a more important career journey as a promoter.
In 2018, Li Xiaoxia launched the "Xia Travel Project", an ambitious public program aimed at promoting the development of table tennis. The program covers the establishment of youth training camps, the launch of special training courses for campus table tennis, and the organization of national touring cultural exhibitions.
In the following years, Li Xiaoxia steadily promoted various projects such as "Qinghai National Fitness", "Plateau Teaching", "University Table Tennis Promotion" and "Supporting the National Table Tennis Youth Training Camp" with extraordinary enthusiasm and unwavering determination.
Today, the spring of 2023 has kicked off the "Light of the National Ball Shines on Liaoshen" event, which will last for more than two months. Since April, Li Xiaoxia has led the team to Shenyang, Yingkou, Panjin and other cities in Liaoning Province, not only visiting local schools and enterprises, but also visiting shopping malls and other public places, and carrying out extensive and in-depth exchanges with sports enthusiasts from all walks of life.
At the event site of Panjin Station, Li Xiaoxia wore a red sportswear and shared her table tennis career with the students present in high spirits. Her patient and meticulous attitude seems to let people see her step-by-step and skillful way as a coach.
When she saw the longing and sweaty figures of these children in front of her, Li Xiaoxia seemed to see her former young self.
When talking about the table tennis sport that she loves and has devoted half her life to, Li Xiaoxia said with emotion: "This sport not only shapes our strong physique, but also tempers our indomitable willpower and noble personality quality...... She hopes that by sharing her experience and personal demonstration, she can inspire more people's enthusiasm for table tennis.
After retiring, Li Xiaoxia regarded the promotion of table tennis as a new life mission. She is convinced that the spiritual strength contained in this sport will surely become an important nutrient for the Chinese nation to continue to grow itself. And she will unswervingly spread this power to farther places.