Wang Liqin (simplified Chinese: 王励勤; traditional Chinese: 王勵勤; pinyin: Wáng Lìqín; born June 18, 1978, Shanghai) is a retired Mainland Chinese table tennis player. He began playing at the age of 6 and was picked for the Chinese men's national squad in 1993 when he was only 15 years old. He holds three majors (3 World Championships). He has been ranked #1 by ITTF for 25 consecutive months, from September 2000 to September 2002, which is the second-longest period for being consecutive #1 of the world as of January 2011. At the end of 2013, Wang Liqin retired from the national team.[1]

Wang Liqin
Personal information
Native name王励勤
Full nameWang Liqin
Nationality China
Born (1978-06-18) 18 June 1978 (age 46)
Shanghai, China
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight75 kg (165 lb)
Table tennis career
Playing styleShakehand grip
Medal record
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 2 0 2
World Championships 11 4 5
World Cup 3 1 4
Total 16 5 11
Men's table tennis
Representing  China
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2000 Sydney Doubles
Gold medal – first place 2008 Beijing Team
Bronze medal – third place 2004 Athens Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Beijing Singles
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2001 Osaka Singles
Gold medal – first place 2001 Osaka Doubles
Gold medal – first place 2001 Osaka Team
Gold medal – first place 2003 Paris Doubles
Gold medal – first place 2004 Doha Team
Gold medal – first place 2005 Shanghai Singles
Gold medal – first place 2005 Shanghai Mixed doubles
Gold medal – first place 2006 Bremen Team
Gold medal – first place 2007 Zagreb Singles
Gold medal – first place 2007 Zagreb Mixed doubles
Gold medal – first place 2008 Guangzhou Team
Silver medal – second place 1999 Eindhoven Doubles
Silver medal – second place 2000 Kuala Lumpur Team
Silver medal – second place 2007 Zagreb Doubles
Silver medal – second place 2009 Yokohama Singles
Bronze medal – third place 1997 Manchester Mixed doubles
Bronze medal – third place 1999 Eindhoven Mixed doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Shanghai Doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2013 Paris Doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2013 Paris Mixed doubles
World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2007 Magdeburg Team
Gold medal – first place 2011 Magdeburg Team
Gold medal – first place 2013 Guangzhou Team
Silver medal – second place 2001 Courmayeur Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2000 Yangzhou Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2003 Jiangyin Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2006 Paris Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Barcelona Singles
Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 1998 Bangkok Mixed doubles
Gold medal – first place 1998 Bangkok Team
Gold medal – first place 2002 Busan Singles
Gold medal – first place 2002 Busan Team
Bronze medal – third place 2002 Busan Doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2002 Busan Mixed Doubles

Style/Equipment

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Wang changes his playing equipment often. He has perhaps used more than 10 different model of rackets, some of them for a longer period of time, e.g. The Butterfly Timo Boll Spirit, Stiga Clipper CR, Offensive CR, Rosewood V, DHS Hurricane King II, III, and some Nittaku's models. His main forehand rubber is DHS Hurricane II, III, TG III. It is said that he had used Nittaku Hammond, the Tenergy series, and many other rubbers for his backhand.

Wang Liqin uses the shakehand grip. He plays a forehand dominated style with the occasional backhand loop to open a topspin rally. His above average height allows him additional leverage for acceleration and momentum, creating more powerful shots. Many often describe him as possessing one of the most unusual and powerful forehand shots.

Awards

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Wang won the gold medal in doubles at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, and the bronze medal in singles at the 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens, Greece, as well as at the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing, China. At the 2008 Summer Olympics Wang won gold medal in team competition with Ma Lin and Wang Hao.[2] For most of 2004–6, he ranked as the world's best table tennis player.

Wang Liqin won his first World Championship in Osaka, Japan in 2001. In 2003, Wang made it to the quarter-finals of the World Table Tennis Championships. He has since won two more World Championships – 48th WTTC 2005 in Shanghai, China and 49th WTTC 2007 in Zagreb, Croatia. Wang Liqin is ranked #12 in the world for Men's Singles, based on the ITTF World Ranking page as of January 2014(www.ittf.com).

Pro Tour winner (×21): Lebanon Open (1998), Swedish Open (1999), USA Open, China Open, Japan Open, Denmark Open (2000), China Open, England Open, Sweden Open (2001), China Open (2002). Germany Open, Swedish Open (2003), China Open, Korean Open, Singapore Open (2004), Qatar Open, China Open (Shenzhen), China Open (Harbin) (2005), Qatar Open, Japan Open (2006), Qatar Open (2010) Runner-up (×10): Qatar Open, Japan Open (1997), France Open (1999), China Open (Kunshan), China Open (Guangzhou) (2006), Qatar (2007), China Open (2007), China Open (2008), China Open (2009), China Open (2012)

Men's doubles Pro Tour winner (23): France Open (1996), Yugoslavian Open (1997), Japan Open (1997), Qatar Open (1998), China Open (1999), China Open (2000). Sweden Open, China Open (2001), Denmark Open, Qatar Open (2002), Japan Open (2004), China Open (2005), Qatar Open, China Open (Kunshan), China Open (Shenzhen) (2006), Hungarian Open, Japan Open, German Open (2007), Korea Open (2008), England Open (2009), Sweden Open, Qatar Open (2011), China Open (2012) Runner-up (23) Sweden Open, Japan Open, Austrian Open, Brazil Open (1997), Malaysia Open, China Open, Australia Open (1998), USA Open, Denmark Open, Brazil Open (2000), China Open (2002), Japan Open (2003), Japan Open, Singapore Open (2006), China Open (2007), Qatar Open (2009), China Open, Kuwait Open, Qatar Open (2010), UAE Open (2011)

He is included in ITTF hall of fame. Currently he is serving as a coach of his Shanghai team at Chinese super league.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ [1] Table Tennis Master
  2. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Wang Liqin". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2016-12-04.
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Preceded by World Table Tennis Champion
2001
2005, 2007
Succeeded by