Wang Liqin: Another Chinese Ping Pong Gem
China has yet another outstanding ping pong player in Wang Liqin. Unlike most other Chinese players however, Wang Liqin plays with the shakehand technique with a forehand dominated technique.
Wang Liqin had an illustrious career that saw him win three world championships and also topping the ITTF rankings for twenty-five (25) consecutive months, his life is definitely worth taking a look at.
Therefore, fasten your seat belts and relax as we take a look at one of the greats in table tennis.
Background
Wang Liqin was born in Shangai China on June 18, 1978. China’s rich history in table tennis made the city of Shangai an enabling environment for this star in the making to develop properly
It didn’t take too long before he caught the Table tennis frenzy while growing up. Wang Liqin and table tennis were a match made in heaven as he started playing at just six years of age. His interest in the game was borne out of sheer natural affection.
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Coaches and Evolution of Style of Play
Although Wang was a natural star, he needed guidance from professional coaches just like most other stars. Starting from the early stages of his career, the coaches he played under did help model his game.
Wang made the chinese national men's squad at the age of 15. He played under Shi Zhihao in this team; a former table tennis player himself.Shi Zhihao created an enabling environment for him to properly develop his shakehand grip style of play.
Aside from his actual playing technique and game tactics, Shi Zhihao also focuses on helping Wang Liqin focus on his personality problems in tough games. He focuses on helping Wang strengthen his mental health.
Liu Guolang also coached the star at the national side. He also had a significant role to play in Wang’s Liqin evolution from a player that had issues overcoming a mental strength issue to one with a superior mentality.
Career Defeats and Setbacks
His name will always be remembered as one of the greatest chinese nationals to play table tennis. However, this status wasn’t achieved on a rosy journey. Wang Liqin encountered numerous defeats during his career, however, those defeats were mere setbacks that couldn’t mar his illustrious career.
His coaches rightly identified Wang’s mental strength as a major weakness. This played out in some of his games and tournaments.
For instance, he was unable to compete for his second gold medal in the Sydney 2000 games due to concerns related to how well he would be able to handle the stress of the competition.
In the 2003 world championships as well, Wang was overpowered by Werner Schangler. However, after continuous hard work and practise, he did come back from these setbacks in 2004 at the World table tennis championships in Doha, Qatar. He beat the odds to win against the same Werner Schangler who had defeated him just a year ago in a very high stakes game despite facing difficulties early on in the game.
Wang did what champions do; he came back to overturn a difficult situation
Major Career Highlights
Career highlights are Merely reading through this article, you’ll agree that Wang’s career is a very interesting story to follow. There’s lots of ups and downs as well as interesting events and occurrences.
Amongst all these happenings, some events count as moments of extreme “highs” in Wang’s career. They include the following:
- Making the men’s national side at the early age of fifteen (15)
- Ranking number one for 25 consecutive months on the ITTF world rankings
- Winning 3 major world championships
- Winning the gold medal in doubles at the sydney olympics in 2000
- Winning multiple other olympic medals
Final Words
If we take a look at the career statistics and achievements of most chinese table tennis athletes, it might seem as though there’s no more breaking limits or perhaps all that is there to be done has been done.
However, Wang Liqin did one better than most other athletes. He holds the joint world record for the second longest consecutive streak of sitting at the top of the ITTF world rankings.
For someone who started out as just any other kid on the streets of Shanghai, his natural love for the game at the early age has indeed pushed him towards achieving great things for himself.
Although he was faced with problems related to the strength of his mental health, he did overcome them to indeed become another chinese ping pong gem.
