Cheng I-Ching
Cheng I-Ching is a Taiwanese ping pong career who has had a somewhat eventful career. She first broke into the ITTF world ranking top 100 at the end of 2008 when she was about to turn 17. Since then, she has gone on to more success in ping-pong, even adding an Olympic medal to her list of achievements. She was ranked fifth in the world at one point, showing her pedigree in the sport. So, what more is there to know about her? Keep reading to find out.
Quick Facts
Biography
Cheng I-Ching was born on February 15, 1992, in Tainan County, Taiwan. She was introduced to table tennis by her older sister, who was playing at the time, with Cheng acting as the "ball girl" for her games. Essentially her job was to pick up balls when her sister's coach noticed she had a knack for it. As such, she suggested that Cheng I-Ching also try the sport as well.
Although little is known about her junior playing career, she burst onto the table tennis scene around 2006. By then, she would have been around 15 years old and was ranked 195th in the world. It took her about two years to break into the top 100, and although she didn't make it into the Olympics in 2012, she would go on to participate in 2016 and 2020.
She is an Olympic bronze medalist with several other medals to her name as well. According to World Table Tennis, her highest world ranking is fifth, which she managed to pull off in February and March 2017.
Career
As mentioned above, it's unclear exactly when Cheng entered the professional scene, even as a junior. However, we do know that she's been playing competitively since 2006. However, despite her obvious pedigree, shown by the fact that she's been ranked top 30 in the world for a long time, she doesn't have many medals to show for it.
This just goes to show how competitive table tennis is in Asia and China. She represents Chinese Taipei in international games.
She performed very well in her two stints at the Olympics, i.e., in 2016 and 2020. For instance, in the 2016 Rio Olympics, she placed fifth in the singles and ninth alongside her teammates in the team event.
In the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she performed much worse in the singles event coming in 17th. However, she made up for it with the Chinese Taipei team that came in fifth and in the mixed doubles event, where she came away with a bronze medal.
Playing style
Cheng I-Ching's playing style is quite versatile and shows why she is a master at her craft. In her recent matchup with Chen Xingtong, you could see her switching from forehand to backhand and back, depending on the situation.
If you would like to develop a similar level of versatility, our best ping pong robots list can help you find a practice partner, even if no other players are around. That said, Cheng prefers a long serve that bounces once on the opponent's side and can be hard to counter.
Achievements
As for Cheng I-Ching's achievements, here's how she fared in some top-flight tournaments.
World Championships
- Kuala Lumpur World Championships 2016 – Team bronze
- Dusseldorf World Championship 2017 – Mixed doubles silver
- Houston World Championship 2021 – Mixed doubles bronze
- Chengdu World Championship 2022 – Team bronze
World Cup
- Philadelphia World Cup 2016 – Singles silver
- Markham World Cup 2017 – Singles bronze
- Chengdu World Cup 2018 – Singles bronze
- Tokyo World Cup 2019 – Team bronze
Olympic Games
- Tokyo Olympics 2020 – Mixed doubles bronze
Personal Life
Cheng I-Ching prefers to keep her personal life private, with very little known about who she's dating or is married to. That said, according to the International Table Tennis Federation, she loves reading in her spare time, is a fan of the Maldives, and idolizes Stephen Curry in the NBA.
Social Media
The Taiwanese player is fairly active on both Facebook and Instagram. Her Instagram account is @chengiching.tt, while her Facebook account is under her name.
Cheng I-Ching Equipment
Videos
Final Thoughts
Despite not having many golds to her name, Cheng I-Ching is an amazing ping-pong player and would likely have thrived anywhere else in the world. However, she's from the world's most competitive table tennis region, which has made it trickier for her to shine.