Wang Nan (table tennis)

Wang Nan
Personal information
Native name 王楠
Full name Wang Nan (王楠)
Nationality  China
Born October 23, 1978
Fushun, Liaoning, China
Playing style Shakehand grip

Wang Nan (Chinese: 王楠; pinyin: Wáng Nán; born October 23, 1978 in Fushun, Liaoning) is a female Chinese table tennis player from Liaoning. Wang remained as world #1 on the ITTF ranking system from January, 1999 to November, 2002. She is left-handed, and began playing table tennis when she was seven years old. Her particular skills are changing the placement of the ball during rallies and her loop drive, as well as her notable speed. Wang has been the leader of the women's table-tennis team of China after Deng Yaping's retirement.

Career performance

In 1994 Wang Nan won the women's singles titles at the Sweden Open. The nex, Women's World Table Tennis Cup and Olympic Games. From 1997 to 1998 she won the Women's World Table Tennis Cup twice, as well as the American Open and China Open. At the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, Wang won the four gold medals on offer (singles, doubles, mixed doubles and women teams). At the end of 1998, she won the ITTF tour finals.

In 1999, she won the gold medal at the World Table Tennis Championships and the ITTF tour finals in both singles and doubles. She become world #1 in the same year. In the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney she won two gold medals in singles and doubles. Her excellent success record has resulted in her becoming a Grand-Slam champion.

However, in the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, she lost two finals in the singles and women's teams competitions, winning no gold medals. Many people criticized her attitude and observed that she was inactive and lacking confidence. A lot of rumors claimed that she was going to retire because her skills were depleted and she could not compete on the improving world stage.

Wang Nan attended 2003 World Table Tennis Championships in Paris. This is her fourth time representing China. She won three gold medals in singles, doubles and mixed doubles and of particular interest, she won both singles and doubles championship for the third time in a row, records which are hard to break in the future. Many people didn't expect her success before the competition began; however, the three gold medals proved that she was still one of the top players in the world.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics Wang Nan failed to retain her singles crown but went on to win the women's doubles with Zhang Yining.

Four years later at the 2008 Summer Olympics she made it to the Women's Final yet again, this time losing out to Zhang Yining, 8-11, 13-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-3. She did, however, win the team gold for the host country.

World Title Events Wins (24)

Legend
Olympic Gold (4)
World Championships (15)
World Cup (5)

Team (8)

No. Year Tournament Name Tournament Location
1. 1997 World Championships (1) Manchester, England, United Kingdom
2. 2000 World Championships (2) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
3. 2001 World Championships (3) Osaka, Japan
4. 2004 World Championships (4) Doha, Qatar
5. 2006 World Championships (5) Bremen, Germany
6. 2007 World Cup (1) Chengdu, China
7. 2008 World Championships (6) Guangzhou, China
8. 2008 Summer Olympic Games (1) Beijing, China

Singles (8)

No. Year Tournament Name Tournament Location Opponent in Final
1. 1997 World Cup (1) Shanghai, China Li Ju
2. 1998 World Cup (2) Taipei, Republic of China Li Ju
3. 1999 World Championships (1) Eindhoven, Netherlands Zhang Yining
4. 2000 Summer Olympic Games (1) Sydney, Australia Li Ju
5. 2001 World Championships (2) Osaka, Japan Lin Ling
6. 2003 World Championships (3) Paris, France Zhang Yining
7. 2003 World Cup (3) Hong Kong, China Niu Jianfeng
8. 2007 World Cup (4) Chengdu, China Zhang Yining

Doubles (7)

No. Year Tournament Name Tournament Location Partnering
1. 1999 World Championships (1) Eindhoven, Netherlands Li Ju
2. 2000 Summer Olympic Games (1) Sydney, Australia Li Ju
3. 2001 World Championships (2) Osaka, Japan Li Ju
4. 2003 World Championships (3) Paris, France Zhang Yining
5. 2004 Summer Olympic Games (2) Athens, Greece Zhang Yining
6. 2005 World Championships (4) Shanghai, China Zhang Yining
7. 2007 World Championships (5) Zagreb, Croatia Zhang Yining

Mixed Doubles (1)

No. Year Tournament Name Tournament Location Partnering
1. 2003 World Championships (1) Paris, France Ma Lin

Pro Tour Events Wins (41)

Legend
Pro Tour Grand Finals (7)
Pro Tour Events (34)

Team (2)

No. Year Tournament Location
1. 2008 Changchun, China
2. 2008 Yokohama, Japan

Singles (18)

No. Year Tournament Location
1. 1997 Fort Lauderdale, United States
2. 1997 Beirut, Lebanon
3. 1998 Jinan, China
4. 1998 Paris, France
5. 1999 Kobe, Japan
6. 1999 Bremen, Germany
7. 2000 Kobe, Japan
8. 2000 Fort Lauderdale, United States
9. 2000 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
10. 2001 Hainan, China
11. 2001 Seoul, Korea
12. 2001 Yokohama, Japan
13. 2001 Hainan, China
14. 2002 Doha, Qatar
15. 2002 Qingdao City, China
16. 2004 Athens, Greece
17. 2006 Kunshan, China
18. 2007 Chiba, Japan

Doubles (21)

No. Year Tournament Location
1. 1996 Belgrade, Yugoslavia
2. 1997 Beirut, Lebanon
3. 1997 Hong Kong, China
4. 1998 Doha, Qatar
5. 1998 Wakayama, Japan
6. 1998 Paris, France
7. 1999 Linz, Austria
8. 1999 Sydney, Australia
9. 2003 Croatia, Croatia
10. 2003 Bremen, Germany
11. 2004 Pyeongchang, Korea
12. 2004 Changchun, China
13. 2004 Beijing, China
14. 2006 Doha, Qatar
15. 2006 Kuwait City, Kuwait
16. 2006 Kunshan, China
17. 2006 Singapore, Singapore
18. 2006 Hong Kong, China
19. 2007 Doha, Qatar
20. 2007 Toulouse, France
21. 2007 Kuwait City, Kuwait

References