Table Tennis legend Zhang Yining retires: Table Tennis News
Zhang Yining, one of the best table tennis players from China, announced her retirement earlier this month. With her retirement a long legacy of her sporting career will come to an end. She has been one of the finest players on the international table tennis
circuit and her 14-year career speaks of her consistent performance.
She is learning English speaking skills at the University Language School in Beijing, China. She is concentrating on verbal and comprehensive English. She is planning to commence her education at the Wisconsin University, United States of America.
In her last interview she said "I made the decision (to retire) after careful consideration and I wish to give young players more opportunity."
Zhang will study Sports Education at Wisconsin University, in the United States of America. She has shown a consistent performance over the last 14 years of her playing career.
Zhang Yining was born in Beijing on 5 October, 1981. Her primary motivation to play table tennis was inspired by her uncle, who saw the spark and recognised her talent in this sport. She never knew that his institution was right and Zhang Yining will become
a living legend on the table tennis circuit. At the age of four she started playing at the Dongcheng District Sports School, Beijing.
Zhang Yining was selected at the Shichahai Sports School, Beijing at the age of nine. She later graduated from the same sports school. This was the first step for her towards her bright professional career.
She made her place in the Chinese National Team at the age of 14. She won the first international title in 1998 at the Malaysian Open. In the same year she featured on the team which won the team title at the Asian Championship.
Zhang Yining is no doubt the best table tennis player in China and internationally. Whenever she has appeared on the international Table Tennis Federations ITTF Pro Tours she has hardly missed a chance to win the title.
The first major victory for Zhang Yining came in 2004 world Olympics held at Athens, Greece. She won medals in singles and doubles events. By now she has won four gold medals and one silver medal at the Olympic Games. In her last appearance at the 2008 Olympics
at Beijing she won over her compatriot, Wang Nan, by 4-1. She was hoping to participate in the 2012, but now after her decision to retire she will not be seen on the international table tennis circuit.
She is the only player to win 19 world table tennis championship titles. In 2005, she completed her grand slam of her playing career by wining all the women’s singles and doubles titles in the major table tennis titles of the year including the World Cup
and the world Championship.
Zhang Yining married, Xu Wei, a business man in China. Both were introduced through a common sports journalist friend, Li Ning. The casual meeting turned into a long term bond. The marriage took place at Grand Hyatt China on 18 October, 2009.
She last appeared on the ITTF ranking in 2010 and was last seen in action at the qualification round of the World Championship Rotterdam in March this year. She lost the trial against her compatriot, Mu Zi. With this defeat she decided to retire from the
circuit with honour.
Tags: