Chen Xingtong
Some kids dream of becoming medical doctors, while some dream of becoming teachers. However, some, like Chen Xingtong, dream of playing ping pong (table tennis) and becoming the best in the world. Unfortunately, most end up not cutting it, but that’s not the story of Xingtong.
This right-handed ping pong player has played and is still playing at the highest level. Hence, she’s won herself and her teams several medals at various championships. Xingtong’s success has helped her rank as one of the world’s top ten female table tennis players.
If Xingtong has always fascinated you as a table tennis player, wouldn’t you want to know everything about her life and career? This article will discuss her early years and how they’ve helped her become a successful tennis player.
Quick Facts
Biography
Chen Xingtong table tennis career has witnessed many victories due to her incredible talent and hard work. This video features some of her best moments on the court:
As we highlighted in our brief profile of Chen Xingtong, the famous table tennis player was born in the Liaozhong District of Shenyang City, China. Everyone needs a spark to come to life. She got hers from her father. Xingtong’s father, Chen Junjiao, was a ping pong enthusiast, so it was easy for him to see his young daughter’s talent very early. His daughter was only four when she started to play table tennis.
Starting very early helped Xingtong hone her skills and gain the necessary confidence to compete against anyone. Her father enrolled her at the Shenyang Sports School, known for its great facilities. Xingtong was at the school with Yang Shenli, the trainer who once joined in the training of Ma Lin. Shenli also followed Xingtong to the Shenhe District Sports School for training.
These early training activities undoubtedly molded and shaped Xingtong into the brilliant table tennis player she is today.
First competitions
As a kid, Chen Xingtong did not waste any time trying to compete with top table tennis players. She was only 11 when she competed in a national competition. She finished 24th in the national junior girl’s table tennis competition (Northern Division). Although that was far from her best outing, it prepared her for a major victory the next year.
In 2009, Xingtong finished first in the national school championship with her school team. The next year, in 2010, her team finished fifth in the team category of the national junior competition (Northern Division). In 2012, she won the Chinese National Championship with the Liaoning Province team. The young table tennis sensation finished third in singles and sixth in the team competition of the 2012 National Junior Championships.
Xingtong’s heroics in 2012 propelled her to the international stage. She won bronze in the Asian Youth Championships in 2012. Furthermore, she was Asian Youth Singles Champion in the next three editions, 2013-2015. Her success in that period was not only regional but also international. A 17-year-old Xingtong became a World Junior Champion in mixed doubles in 2014. She also won the Asian and World Youth Championships six times with the Chinese team.
Xingtong’s many successes in her teenage years pushed her to enter the top 100 world rankings in October 2013.
Career
Chen Xingtong has won several awards, evident in her ranking as the world’s seventh-best female table tennis player. This section will detail her major wins in table tennis.
IITF World Tours
The IITF World Tours have been some of Chen Xingtong’s favorite tournaments because she’s been very successful in them, whether singles, doubles, or team. She opened her ITTF Tour wins with the Hungarian Open in Budapest in 2017. She followed up that victory with a Swedish Open winner’s medal later that year. The flying Chinese ended the year with a bronze medal in the women’s singles at the 2017 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Xingtong had another successful year in 2018, winning a silver medal in the ITTF World Tour in Incheon, South Korea. She won the 2019 Bulgarian Open and the 2019 Czech Open the following year.
WTT Awards
Chen Xingtong won three major WTT awards in 2022. In March, she won the WTT Contender Muscat tournament in mixed doubles. She also bagged a bronze medal in women’s doubles. She returned to Muscat, Oman, in September, equaling an enviable record in the process. At the 2022 WTT Contender Muscat (II), she became the second table tennis player to win the women’s tournament in all three categories; women’s singles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles.
Xingtong also became a world champion for the first time in her career as part of the Chinese team at the 2022 World Team Championships.
Women’s Singles
Chen Xingtong has won several singles at various tournaments in her career. The tournaments include the 2013 Asian Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championships, the 2014 Asian Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championships, the 2015 Asian Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championships, the 2022 WTT Feeder Panagyurishte, and the 2022 WTT Contender Muscat (II).
She won bronze medals in the 2012 Asian Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championships, the 2015 World Junior Championships, and the 2017 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals.
Chen Xingtong Equipment
Videos
Final Thoughts
Xingtong dreamt of becoming one of the best table tennis players in the world, and she is one today. She enjoyed the great support of her father, who saw what she could do very early, and he has been proven right. She has won several medals playing in the ITTF and WTT tournaments. She became a world champion for the first time in her career at the 2022 World Team Table Tennis Championships.
No doubt, Chen Xingtong is still going strong, and there’s still so much she can achieve in table tennis. If you love playing ping pong and want to enjoy your game like Xingtong, you’ll be doing yourself a world of good by investing in one of the best table tennis shoes we’ve reviewed.