In a sentence

He was the most dependable doubles anchor of Chinese men’s table tennis in his era, and the man who pushed the craft of pairing to its limit.

Playing style

  • Close-to-table fast attack combined with loop; fierce forehand and decisive execution
  • Superb positional sense in doubles, first-rate at taking and covering space
  • Outstanding at creating chances for his partner with serve and return

Career and key moments

In 1991, 1993 and 1995 he and Liu Wei won three straight World Championships mixed doubles titles, one of the very few such runs in the event’s history. At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics he and Lü Lin won men’s doubles gold, and at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics the pair took men’s doubles silver. At the 1995 Tianjin World Championships he helped the team to the men’s team title.

What he left the game

With his gold medals he reminded those who came after him that doubles is not an appendage of singles — it has a technical system and an aesthetic of its own.

In a sentence: The strongest thing in doubles is not one person but the timing between two.