In a sentence

She was the prodigy expected to reach the very top, winning an individual world title at a young age that many chase for a lifetime.

Playing style

  • Left-handed shakehand, with a wide forehand angle and open lines
  • Early contact and decisive hitting, with a very fast attacking rhythm
  • Agile footwork, able to string together repeated strong attacks close to the table

Career and key moments

At the Athens 2004 Olympics she won women’s doubles bronze; at the 2007 Zagreb World Championships, aged just 19, she won women’s singles and was seen as the new leader of Chinese women’s table tennis; at the Beijing 2008 Olympics she won the women’s team title and women’s singles bronze; at London 2012 she won the women’s team title again. Injury and other factors later saw her gradually step back from the national team.

What she left the game

Her story reminds people that a prodigy’s development curve does not always climb. For young players, how to keep evolving after a breakthrough is a harder question than winning the title itself.

In a sentence: Rising young is a gift, and also an exam that arrives early.