In a sentence

She is the player who made the Chinese women’s team write “the Japanese threat” into their preparation notes for the first time.

Playing style

  • Lightning transition between wings; launches from close table instantly
  • Flexible placement, using speed to scramble an opponent’s rhythm
  • Young but composed on the big stage, willing to gamble on key points

Career and key moments

In 2014 she and Mima Ito won the German Open doubles, among the youngest world-title holders in tour history. At the 2016 World Cup, with Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen withdrawing injured, she beat Ito and Feng Tianwei and then crushed Cheng I-ching 4–0 in the final — at 16, the youngest Women’s World Cup champion ever, and the first from outside China. At the 2017 Asian Championship she defeated Ding Ning, Zhu Yuling and Chen Meng back-to-back for the title, a result that shook the sport; that year she added World Championship singles bronze, Japan’s first since 1969. Tokyo 2020 brought team silver.

Legacy

With Ito Mima and Hayata Hina she forms the core of Japan’s “golden generation” of women. For the Chinese team, she is the piece that turned “the main rival” from a lone genius into a group.

Remember in one line: When a whole cohort rises at once, what they challenge is not a single champion but an entire system.