Where He Fits

He came out of Hainan, long considered a table tennis desert, reached World No. 1 at 19 — then spent more than a year under fire during a title drought, until the Asian Games where he took three golds in one go.

Playing Style

  • Standout backhand play; his backhand flick and backhand-to-backhand rallies are a constant threat
  • A hard-edged game, unafraid to take the initiative in the first three strokes
  • Excellent doubles and mixed doubles fit; his pairing with Kuai Man has long been ranked World No. 1

Career and Key Moments

His breakthrough came in the second half of 2024, winning WTT Champions Macao, the China Grand Smash (beating Ma Long 4–3 in the final) and other men’s singles titles. In February 2025 he won the WTT Singapore Grand Smash singles, swept the men’s doubles and mixed doubles there, and with 2,000 ranking points reached men’s singles World No. 1 for the first time at 19 years, 9 months and 24 days — breaking the youngest-ever record Kong Linghui had held for twenty years. He then went through a singles title drought and his ranking slipped. At the 2026 Nagoya Asian Games he beat Wang Chuqin 4–0 in the men’s singles final, and added men’s doubles and mixed doubles gold (the men’s team lost a narrow final to Japan, ending an eight-title streak) — a emphatic response to every doubter.

What He Left Behind

His generation faces a new reality: an extremely dense calendar where rankings come fast and fade fast. His ups and downs are themselves a case study in how to grow inside the new system.

Remember this: becoming the youngest World No. 1 is not the hard part; staying at the table while being doubted is.