Chuang Chih-yuan

Chuang Chih-Yuan
Full name CHUANG Chih-Yuan
Nationality  Taiwan
Playing style Right-handed shakehand grip
Highest ranking 3 (December 2003)[1]
Club Levallois Sporting Club T.T. (France)[2]
Born April 2, 1981 (1981-04-02) (age 30)
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Height 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight 60 kg (130 lb; 9.4 st)
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Chuang.

Chuang Chih-Yuan (traditional Chinese: 莊智淵; simplified Chinese: 庄智渊; pinyin: Zhuāng Zhìyuān; born April 2, 1982 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan) is a Taiwanese table tennis player.[3] Winner of ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals 2002. As of November 2010 he is ranked 11th in the world.[1]

Contents

Career in table tennis

Chuang's parents were both table tennis players in Taiwan.[4][5] His father won national doubles champion, and his mother Li Kuei-Mei was a member of national team. After Li's career as a player, her son, Chih-Yuan, became one of her student in table tennis.

Chuang started competing at the age of 8 in 1989.[3] His mother had brought him to China for training several times since his age of 13. Chuang first made it to the Taiwan national team in 1998. In 1999, Chuang made his World Championships and ITTF Pro Tour debut.[6] At the end of 2000, His mother decided to let Chuang be trained in Europe including France and Germany. The process made his matches a combination of Chinese and European playing style.

2002 is one of Chuang's sparkling year in his career. He reached his first three finals in Pro Tour, but all ended up as runner-up. He entered the world top 10 list in September, won the silver medal in Asian Games and participated in his first World Cup. At the year's end, he consecutively faced the opponents who defeated him in the previous three finals of the Pro Tour, and recorded three straight wins in the Pro Tour Grand Finals.[7][8] He defeated Jean-Michel Saive in the quarter-final, Wang Hao in the semi-final, and Kalinikos Kreanga in the final, claiming the title of Grand Finals.

Chuang won his first Singles title of Pro Tour at Brazil Open in 2003, and recorded No. 3, the highest world ranking of his career, at the end of the year.[1] He advanced to quarter-finals in 2004 Athens Olympics, ending a loss to Wang Hao.[9]

In July 2008, his own table tennis stadium, Chih Yuan The Ping-Pong Stadium, opened in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The stadium not only operates for Chuang's training, but opened for other players and the public.[10]

Career summary

Singles (as of November 8, 2010):[6]

Awards

References

  1. ^ a b c "ITTF world ranking". ITTF. http://www.ittf.com/ittf_ranking/world_ranking_per_name.asp?Siniors=1&Player_ID=101820. Retrieved 2010-07-31. 
  2. ^ "Levallois Sporting Club T.T.". ETTU. http://www.ecl-ettu.com/index.php?team=team&&id=17&l1=l1. Retrieved 2010-11-08. 
  3. ^ a b "ITTF Biography". ITTF. http://www.ittf.com/biography/biography_web_details.asp?Player_ID=101820. Retrieved 2010-07-31. 
  4. ^ Chou, Li-Chiang (2008-05-16). "莊智淵的朋友與敵人" (in traditional Chinese). mass-age.com. http://mass-age.com/wpmu/blog/2008/05/16/3187/. Retrieved 2010-07-31. 
  5. ^ "高雄新鮮人─莊智淵的桌球世界" (in traditional Chinese). Kaohsiung e-paper. Kaohsiung City Government. 2008-08-22. http://epublication.kcg.gov.tw/pictorial_short_content.asp?EPKey=2270. Retrieved 2010-07-31. 
  6. ^ a b "ITTF Statistics". ITTF. http://www.ittf.com/ittf_stats/All_events3.asp?ID=1303. Retrieved 2010-11-08. 
  7. ^ Peter Jensen (2002-12-13). "Learning the hard way". ITTF. http://www.ittf.com/_front_page/ittf_full_story.asp?Year=&General_Catigory=&ID=2334&Category=&Competition_ID=&Player_ID=101820&. Retrieved 2010-07-31. 
  8. ^ Peter Jensen (2002-12-15). "CHUAN out on top". ITTF. http://www.ittf.com/_front_page/ittf_full_story.asp?Year=&General_Catigory=&ID=2794&Category=&Competition_ID=&Player_ID=101820&. Retrieved 2010-07-31. 
  9. ^ "Olympic results at sports-reference.com". http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/. http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ch/chuan-chih-yuan-1.html. Retrieved 2010-07-31. 
  10. ^ "Official website of Chih Yuan The Ping-Pong Stadium" (in traditional Chinese). http://www.chihyuan.url.tw/index.asp. Retrieved 2010-07-31. 
  11. ^ Huang, Chiu-Ming (2003-09-09). "92體育精英獎／莊智淵擊敗曹錦輝　摘下最佳男運動員" (in traditional Chinese). NOWnews.com. http://www.nownews.com/2003/09/09/10847-1510930.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-31. 
  12. ^ "Past Winners" (in traditional Chinese). Ten Outstanding Young Persons' Foundation Co.. http://www.persons.org.tw/ten5.html. Retrieved 2010-07-31.