The Most Famous

TABLE TENNIS PLAYERS from China

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This page contains a list of the greatest Chinese Table Tennis Players. The pantheon dataset contains 107 Table Tennis Players, 29 of which were born in China. This makes China the birth place of the most number of Table Tennis Players.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Chinese Table Tennis Players of all time. This list of famous Chinese Table Tennis Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Chinese Table Tennis Players.

Photo of Zhuang Zedong

1. Zhuang Zedong (1940 - 2013)

With an HPI of 50.29, Zhuang Zedong is the most famous Chinese Table Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages on wikipedia.

Zhuang Zedong (Chuang Tse-tung; August 25, 1940 – February 10, 2013) was a Chinese table tennis player, three-time world men's singles champion and champion at numerous other table tennis events and a well-known political personality during the tumult of the Cultural Revolution. His chance meeting with American table tennis player, Glenn Cowan, during the 31st World Table Tennis Championship, later referred to as ping-pong diplomacy, triggered the first thawing of the ice in Sino-American relations since 1949. Zhuang was once married to the pianist Bao Huiqiao, and his second wife was the Chinese-born Japanese Atsuko Sasaki (佐々木敦子).

Photo of Ma Lin

2. Ma Lin (b. 1980)

With an HPI of 45.68, Ma Lin is the 2nd most famous Chinese Table Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Ma Lin (Chinese: 马琳; pinyin: Mǎ Lín; born February 19, 1980) is a retired Chinese table tennis player, Olympic champion, and the current Chinese Women's Team Head Coach. Ma learned to play table tennis at age five and became a member of the provincial team in 1990. In 1994, he joined the Chinese national team. Ma is the only male player ever to win Olympic gold in Singles, Doubles and Team. He previously held a professional era record of 5 major titles (4 World Cups and 1 Olympic Gold), having won more World Cups than any other male table tennis player in history. He has since been surpassed by Ma Long, who has won 7 major titles. He has won a total of 18 world championships in his career. Since retiring in December 2013, Ma has been serving as the head coach of the Guangdong provincial table tennis team. He became the head coach of the China National Women's Team in December 2022.

Photo of Ma Long

3. Ma Long (b. 1988)

With an HPI of 45.66, Ma Long is the 3rd most famous Chinese Table Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 37 different languages.

Ma Long (Chinese: 马龙; pinyin: Mǎ Lóng; born 20 October 1988) is a Chinese professional table tennis player, six-time Olympic champion, and three-time World Champion. He is the reigning World Cup singles champion. Widely regarded as the greatest table tennis player of all time, he is the first and only male player to complete a career Double Grand Slam as the Olympic gold medalist in men's singles in 2016 and 2020. He is also the first and only table tennis athlete to win 6 gold medals in summer Olympics — no other table tennis player has more than four. He holds the record for most Olympic gold medals won by a Chinese athlete. Ma held the world number 1 ranking for a total of 64 months (and 34 consecutive months from March 2015), the most by any man in the history of table tennis. He won the World Championship in men's singles in 2015, 2017 and 2019. His records led the International Table Tennis Federation to nickname him "The Dictator" and "The Dragon" (derived from his name, Lóng, which represents the zodiac year of his birth). Since 2014, he has been the captain of the Chinese national table tennis men's team. Ma is currently the world number 7 in the ITTF rankings.

Photo of Wang Liqin

4. Wang Liqin (b. 1978)

With an HPI of 44.72, Wang Liqin is the 4th most famous Chinese Table Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

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.

Photo of Wang Hao

5. Wang Hao (b. 1983)

With an HPI of 43.93, Wang Hao is the 5th most famous Chinese Table Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Wang Hao (Chinese: 王皓; pinyin: Wáng Hào; born 15 December 1983) is a retired Chinese table tennis player and multiple-time Olympic medallist. He is the current head coach of the Chinese Men's Table Tennis Team. Wang became the world champion in men's singles in 2009, defeating three-time World Champion Wang Liqin 4–0. Wang was also a three-time World Cup Champion in 2007, 2008 and 2010, as well as a three-time singles silver medalist at the 2004 Summer Olympics, 2008 Summer Olympics, and the 2012 Summer Olympics. He was ranked #1 on the official ITTF world rankings for 27 consecutive months from October 2007 to December 2009. In January 2010, he was surpassed by Ma Long. In April 2011, Wang reclaimed his #1 ranking. He is known to execute the Reverse Penhold Backhand (RPB) with exceptional skill. During his career, he appeared a record twelve times in major world competition finals. In men's singles, he won the Asian Championship, Asian Cup, Asian Games, and Chinese National Games at least once. Wang retired from the national team at the end of 2014. As of 2023, he is the head coach of the Chinese Men's Table Tennis Team.

Photo of Kong Linghui

6. Kong Linghui (b. 1975)

With an HPI of 43.07, Kong Linghui is the 6th most famous Chinese Table Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Kong Linghui (simplified Chinese: 孔令辉; traditional Chinese: 孔令輝; pinyin: Kǒng Lìnghuī; born October 18, 1975) is a retired Chinese table tennis player. He competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics, as well as in the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics. Kong is a 76th generation descendant of Confucius.

Photo of Deng Yaping

7. Deng Yaping (b. 1973)

With an HPI of 42.69, Deng Yaping is the 7th most famous Chinese Table Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Deng Yaping (Chinese: 邓亚萍; pinyin: Dèng Yàpíng; born February 6, 1973) is a Chinese table tennis player, who won eighteen world championships including four Olympic championships between 1989 and 1997. She is regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport.

Photo of Zhang Jike

8. Zhang Jike (b. 1988)

With an HPI of 41.51, Zhang Jike is the 8th most famous Chinese Table Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Zhang Jike (Chinese: 张继科; pinyin: Zhāng Jìkē; born 16 February 1988) is a retired Chinese table tennis player. Zhang became the fourth male player in the history of table tennis to achieve a career Grand Slam when he won gold in men's singles at the Olympic games in London 2012. The first three are Jan-Ove Waldner (in 1992), Liu Guoliang (in 1999), and Kong Linghui (in 2000). Zhang won the Grand Slam in only 445 days. He won, consecutively, first WTTC 2011, then World Cup 2011, and then London Olympics 2012, which made him the fastest player ever to win a Grand Slam. After the first Grand Slam, he won WTTC 2013 and World Cup 2014.

Photo of Jiang Jialiang

9. Jiang Jialiang (b. 1964)

With an HPI of 41.14, Jiang Jialiang is the 9th most famous Chinese Table Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Jiang Jialiang (Chinese: 江嘉良; born 3 March 1964) is a male former international table tennis player from China. He competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics.

Photo of Xu Xin

10. Xu Xin (b. 1990)

With an HPI of 40.63, Xu Xin is the 10th most famous Chinese Table Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Xu Xin (simplified Chinese: 许昕; traditional Chinese: 許昕; pinyin: Xǔ Xīn; born 8 January 1990) is a Chinese professional table tennis player. He first reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 1 by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) in January 2013. He is Vice Chairman of the Asian Table Tennis Federation. He has won 17 World Tour Singles titles and has won the World Championships in men's doubles thrice, mixed doubles twice, and five times in the team event. In addition, Xu Xin along with Ma Long and Zhang Jike won the men's team gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

People

Pantheon has 38 people classified as Chinese table tennis players born between 1940 and 1999. Of these 38, 37 (97.37%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Chinese table tennis players include Ma Lin, Ma Long, and Wang Liqin. The most famous deceased Chinese table tennis players include Zhuang Zedong. As of April 2024, 9 new Chinese table tennis players have been added to Pantheon including Jiang Jialiang, Wei Qingguang, and Wang Tao.

Living Chinese Table Tennis Players

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Deceased Chinese Table Tennis Players

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Newly Added Chinese Table Tennis Players (2024)

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