Liu Shiwen

In this Chinese name, the family name is Liu.

Liu Shiwen (Chinese: 刘诗雯; pinyin: Liú Shīwén; born 12 April 1991) is a Chinese table tennis player.^[1] She is a five-time World Cup champion, one-time World Champion, three-time ITTF World Tour Grand Finals champion and four-time Asian Cup champion.

Liu Shiwen

Liu in 2013
Personal information
Native name	刘诗雯
Nickname	Sunny
Nationality	Chinese
Born	(1991-04-12) 12 April 1991 (age 34)[1] Liaoning, China
Height	161 cm (5 ft 3 in)[2]
Sport
Sport	Table tennis
Playing style	Right-handed, shakehand grip
Highest ranking	1 (January 2010)[3]
Medal record Women's Table Tennis Representing  China Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 1 0 World Championships 8 4 3 World Cup 11 1 0 Total 20 6 3 Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team 2020 Tokyo Mixed doubles World Championships 2012 Dortmund Team 2014 Tokyo Team 2015 Suzhou Doubles 2016 Kuala Lumpur Team 2017 Düsseldorf Doubles 2018 Halmstad Team 2019 Budapest Singles 2019 Budapest Mixed doubles 2010 Moscow Team 2013 Paris Doubles 2013 Paris Singles 2015 Suzhou Singles 2009 Yokohama Singles 2011 Rotterdam Singles 2017 Düsseldorf Singles World Cup 2009 Guangzhou Singles 2009 Linz Team 2010 Dubai Team 2012 Huangshi Singles 2013 Guangzhou Team 2013 Kobe Singles 2015 Dubai Team 2015 Sendai Singles 2018 London Team 2019 Chengdu Singles 2019 Tokyo Team 2017 Markham Singles Asian Games 2010 Guangzhou Team 2014 Incheon Team 2014 Incheon Singles 2010 Guangzhou Doubles 2014 Incheon Doubles Asian Championships 2005 Jeju-do Doubles 2009 Lucknow Team 2012 Macau Team 2013 Busan Team 2013 Busan Singles 2015 Pattaya Team 2019 Yogyakarta Mixed doubles 2013 Busan Doubles 2019 Yogyakarta Singles 2005 Jeju-do Team 2009 Lucknow Singles 2009 Lucknow Mixed doubles 2012 Macau Singles Asian Cup 2010 Guangzhou Singles 2012 Guangzhou Singles 2013 Hong Kong Singles 2016 Dubai Singles 2009 Hangzhou Singles 2015 Jaipur Singles 2017 Ahmedabad Singles National Games of China 2021 Shaanxi Mixed doubles 2021 Shaanxi Singles World Junior Championships 2004 Kobe Team 2004 Kobe Mixed doubles 2004 Kobe Doubles 2004 Kobe Singles Asian Junior Championships 2004 New Delhi Team 2004 New Delhi Doubles 2004 New Delhi Singles

She held the ITTF No. 1 rank for nine consecutive months from January to September 2010, thirteen consecutive months during 2013–2014, and eleven consecutive months during 2015–2016.^[4] Also, she has been consistently ranked first or second in ITTF Women's World ranking from early 2012 to mid-2017 (with no lower rank than third).^[4]

Equipment

Liu Shiwen currently uses a Custom made Butterfly ZLC with a black DHS Hurricane 3 NEO Blue Sponge (2.1mm,39.5°) for her forehand and a red Dignics for her backhand.^{[citation needed]}

Career

In 2019, Liu won the world championships.^[5] In a sit-down interview with CCTV, Liu discussed her 2019 World Championship run, placing a big emphasis on the psychological aspect. She noted that she felt like an underdog against both Ding Ning in the semi-finals and Chen Meng in the finals.^[6]

In 2020, Liu's season was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. She did not return for ITTF's restart events at the end of the year due to injury.^[7] Liu was expected to return in 2021 at WTT Doha, but plans were cut short by China's decision to withdraw due to coronavirus concerns.^[8]

2021

After getting surgery for an elbow injury that sidelined her through most of 2020, Liu began training with her teammates again in January.^[9]

In March, Liu participated in the Chinese National Team training camp and played in the China National Games Qualifying tournament, where she stated that she felt that she was fully recovered from her injury.^[10] National team coach Li Sun stated that Liu looked even better than expected in training camp, which prompted speculation that Liu was a front-runner to represent China in the singles event at the Tokyo Olympics.^[11] However, Liu lost 4–0 to Zhu Yuling in the quarter finals of the China Olympic Scrimmage in May.^[12]

In May, Liu was selected to represent China in the team event but not the singles event at the Tokyo Olympics. However, shortly after she lost 4–0 to He Zhuojia in the quarter-finals of the second leg of the China Olympic Scrimmage.^[13]

Liu played mixed doubles with Xu Xin at the Tokyo Olympics. In an interview in July, Liu stated that their doubles chemistry was better than ever before.^[9]

In July, Liu and Xu Xin won silver in the mixed doubles event at the Tokyo Olympics being upset 4-3 by Japan's Mima Ito and Jun Mizutani despite initially leading 2–0.^[14] Following the loss, Liu withdrew from the team event and was replaced by Wang Manyu.^[15]

In September, Liu reached the quarter-finals of the women's singles at the China National Games. After her round of 16 victory over Gu Yuting, Liu stated that the China National Games was her first real tournament in a year and a half.^[16] Liu defeated Gu Yuting to reach the semi-finals of the women's singles event, and won the mixed doubles gold medal with Xu Xin.^[17] Liu went on to win bronze in women's singles after losing to Sun Yingsha 4–0 in the semi-finals and defeating Chen Meng 3–1 in the bronze medal match.^[18]

Liu (front) and teammates Cao Zhen and Fan Ying looking at jewelry in 2012.

In December 2022, Liu was elected president of the FIBT Athletes' Commission for a four-year term.In April 2023, she became vice-president of the Guangdong Provincial Ping Association.^[19]

Career records

Singles (as of 18 June 2019)^[20]

• World Championships: Winner (2019), Runner-up (2013, 2015), SF (2009, 2011, 2017)
• World Cup: Winner (2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2019), Runner-up (2017)
• Asian Games: Winner (2014)
• Asian Championships: Winner (2013), SF (2009, 2012, 2017), Runner-up (2019)
• Asian Cup: Winner (2010, 2012, 2013, 2016), Runner-up (2009, 2015, 2017)
• World Junior Championships: Runner-up (2004)
• Asian Junior Championships: SF (2004)
• Pro Tour Grand Finals: Winner (3) London, England (2011), Hangzhou, China (2012), Dubai, UAE (2013).
• Pro Tour / ITTF World Tour
  • Winner (14):
    • 2009: Danish Open, China (Suzhou) Open, China (Tianjin) Open
    • 2010: Kuwait Open 2010
    • 2011: Qatar Open 2011
    • 2012: Hungary Open, Korea Open
    • 2013: Kuwait Open, Dubai Open
    • 2015: Polish Open
    • 2016: Qatar Open, Japan Open
    • 2018: Qatar Open, Australia Open
  • Runner-up (16):
    • 2009: English Open
    • 2010: Qatar Open
    • 2011: Sweden Open, Austria Open
    • 2012: Slovenia Open, China (Shanghai) Open, China (Suzhou) Open
    • 2013: Qatar Open, China (Suzhou) Open, Russian Open
    • 2014: China (Chengdu) Open, Sweden Open
    • 2016: Korea Open, China (Chengdu) Open
    • 2019: Qatar Open, Japan Open
• ITTF Challenge:
  • Winner: Thailand Open (2018)

Doubles

• World Championships: Winner (2015, 2017), Runner-up (2013), QF (2007, 2009)
• Asian Games: Runner-up (2010, 2014)
• Asian Championships: Winner (2005)
• World Junior Championships: Winner (2004)
• Asian Junior Championships: Winner (2004)
• Pro Tour Grand Finals: Winner (2009)
• Pro Tour /ITTF World Tour
  • Winner (20)
    • 2008: Korea Open 2008
    • 2009: Danish Open, China (Tianjin) Open
    • 2010: Qatar Open
    • 2011: China (Shenzhen) Open
    • 2012: Hungary Open, Korea Open
    • 2013: China (Changchun) Open, Russian Open
    • 2014: Kuwait Open, China (Chengdu) Open, Sweden Open
    • 2015: China (Chengdu) Open
    • 2016: Kuwait Open, Qatar Open, Korea Open
    • 2017: China
    • 2018: Japan
    • 2019: China Open, Japan Open
  • Runner-up (7)
    • 2007: China (Nanjing) Open
    • 2009: Qatar Open, China (Suzhou) Open
    • 2010: Kuwait Open, China (Suzhou) Open
    • 2016: Japan Open, China (Chengdu) Open

Mixed doubles

• Olympic Games: Runner-up (2020)
• World Championships: Winner (2019)
• Asian Championships: Winner (2019), SF (2009)
• World Junior Championships: Winner (2004)
• ITTF World Tour:
  • Winner (3)
    • 2018: Austria Open
    • 2019: Hungary Open, Qatar Open, Sweden Open

Team

• Olympics: Winner (2016)
• World Championships: Winner (2012, 2014, 2016, 2018), Runner-up (2010)
• World Team Cup: Winner (2009, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2019)
• Asian Games: Winner (2010, 2014)
• Asian Championships: Winner (2009, 2012, 2013, 2015); Second Runner-up (2005)
• World Junior Championships: Winner (2004)
• Asian Junior Championships: Winner (2004)