Wang Liqin

Wang Liqin (simplified Chinese: 王励勤; traditional Chinese: 王勵勤; pinyin: Wáng Lìqín; born June 18, 1978) is a 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]

In this Chinese name, the family name is Wang.

Wang Liqin
2013 World Table Tennis Championships
Personal information
Native name	王励勤
Full name	Wang Liqin
Nationality	China
Born	(1978-06-18) 18 June 1978 (age 46) Shanghai, China
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	75 kg (165 lb)
Table tennis career
Playing style	Shakehand 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 2000 Sydney Doubles 2008 Beijing Team 2004 Athens Singles 2008 Beijing Singles World Championships 2001 Osaka Singles 2001 Osaka Doubles 2001 Osaka Team 2003 Paris Doubles 2004 Doha Team 2005 Shanghai Singles 2005 Shanghai Mixed doubles 2006 Bremen Team 2007 Zagreb Singles 2007 Zagreb Mixed doubles 2008 Guangzhou Team 1999 Eindhoven Doubles 2000 Kuala Lumpur Team 2007 Zagreb Doubles 2009 Yokohama Singles 1997 Manchester Mixed doubles 1999 Eindhoven Mixed doubles 2005 Shanghai Doubles 2013 Paris Doubles 2013 Paris Mixed doubles World Cup 2007 Magdeburg Team 2011 Magdeburg Team 2013 Guangzhou Team 2001 Courmayeur Singles 2000 Yangzhou Singles 2003 Jiangyin Singles 2006 Paris Singles 2007 Barcelona Singles Asian Games 1998 Bangkok Mixed doubles 1998 Bangkok Team 2002 Busan Singles 2002 Busan Team 2002 Busan Doubles 2002 Busan Mixed Doubles

After years of service in leadership positions at athletic organizations in Shanghai focusing on table tennis and badminton, Wang Liqin has been appointed as the new president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association on April 23, 2025, succeeding Liu Guoliang. Ma Long will serve under him as the new vice-president.

Playstyle and equipment

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

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.

See also

• List of table tennis players
• World Table Tennis Championships
• Sport in China