Fan Zhendong

Fan Zhendong (Chinese: 樊振东; pinyin: Fán Zhèndōng; born 22 January 1997) is a Chinese professional table tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 1 for men's singles by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).[2] After joining the Chinese National Table Tennis Team in 2012 as the youngest member of the team, he went on to become the youngest ITTF World Tour Champion and the youngest World Table Tennis Champion.[4][5] He achieved the top spot in the world rankings after holding position No. 2 for 29 consecutive months, starting from November 2015.[6]

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Fan.
Fan Zhendong
Fan Zhendong on ITTF World Tour 2017 German Open
Personal information
Native name樊振东
NationalityChinese
Born (1997-01-22) 22 January 1997
Guangzhou, Guangdong, China[1]
Playing styleRight-handed, Shakehand grip
Equipment(s)Stiga Infinity VPS with DHS Hurricane 3 National (Blue Sponge) (FH, Black), Butterfly Dignics 05 (BH, Red)
Highest rankingNo. 1 (April 2018)[2]
Current rankingNo. 1 (May 2020)[2]
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[3]
Weight77 kg (170 lb)[3]

Fan's attacking style of play involves explosive footwork and powerful forehand loops.[7] His thick-set build has led fans and commentators to affectionately refer to him as "Little Fatty" (Chinese: 小胖; pinyin: Xiǎo Pàng)[1]. His continuous rise to becoming one of the top table tennis players in the world has garnered him a large fanbase worldwide, with over half a million followers on Chinese social media site Weibo. In 2016, he won the ITTF Star Point Award, and he was nominated for the Best Male Star Award every year between 2013 and 2016.[8]

Playing style and equipment

Fan is a Stiga sponsored athlete. However, he uses a Butterfly Viscaria blade but changed to a Stiga Infinity VPS V handle because of sponsoring Stiga. He uses a black DHS Hurricane 3 neo National Blue Sponge for forehand and a Red Tenergy 05 for backhand. During the 2019 world table tennis championships, he changed to the new Butterfly Dignics 05 on his backhand that had just been released on 1 April 2019.[9]

A right-handed shakehand-grip player, Fan plays an attacking style of table tennis using his explosive footwork and thunderous forehand loops to finish off his opponents. Emerging as a 16-year-old wonder kid, Fan's playing style is often compared to his senior compatriot Ma Long. In addition to being trained by national team coaches, he has been specially trained by both Wang Hao and Ma Lin. His encounters against senior players in the Chinese national team have drawn much speculation and anticipation. His fearlessness and technique allow him to challenge highly rated, experienced players, sometimes even beating top players in thrilling style.

Achievements
Majors (Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup)
Year Event Location Type
Singles Doubles Team
2013 World Table Tennis Championships Paris, France Rd of 32 － －
2014 World Team Table Tennis Championships Tokyo, Japan － － Winner
2015 Table Tennis World Cup (Team) Dubai, UAE － － Winner
World Table Tennis Championships Suzhou, China Semi-finals Runner-up (with Zhou Yu) －
Table Tennis World Cup (Men's Singles) Halmstad, Sweden Runner-up － －
2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia － － Winner
Table Tennis World Cup (Men's Singles) Saarbrücken, Germany Winner － －
2017 World Table Tennis Championships Düsseldorf, GermanyRunner-up Winner (with Xu Xin)－
2018 Table Tennis World Cup (Team) London, England － － Winner
World Team Table Tennis Championships Halmstad, Sweden － － Winner
Table Tennis World Cup (Men's Singles) Paris, France Winner － －
2019 World Table Tennis Championships Budapest, Hungary Rd of 16 Semi-finals (with Ding Ning) －
Table Tennis World Cup (Team) Tokyo, Japan － － Winner
Table Tennis World Cup (Men's Singles) Chengdu, China Winner － －
Asian Games, Asian Championships, Asian Cup
Year Event Location Type
Men's Singles Men's Doubles Men's Team Mixed Doubles
2013 Asian Table Tennis Championships Busan, South Korea Quarter-finals Semi-finals (with Chen Meng) Winner －
2014 Asian Cup Table Tennis Tournament Wuhan, China Runner-up － － －
Asian Games Incheon, South Korea Runner-up Runner-up (with Xu Xin) Winner －
2015 Asian Cup Table Tennis Tournament Jaipur, India Runner-up － － －
Asian Table Tennis Championships Pattaya, Thailand Winner Winner (with Xu Xin) Winner Winner (Mixed Doubles with Chen Meng)
2017 Asian Table Tennis Championships Wuxi, China Winner Winner (with Lin Gaoyuan) Winner －
Asian Cup Table Tennis Tournament Ahmedabad, India Runner-up － － －
2018 Asian Cup Table Tennis Tournament Yokohama, Japan Winner － － －
Asian Games Jakarta, Indonesia Winner － Winner －
2019 Asian Cup Table Tennis Tournament Yokohama, Japan Winner － － －
Asian Table Tennis Championships Yogyakarta, Indonesia Semi-finals Runner-up (with Xu Xin) Winner －
ITTF World Tour
Year Location Type
Men's Singles Men's Doubles Mixed Doubles
2013 Doha, Qatar Rd of 32 Rd of 16 －
Changchun, China Quarter-finals － －
Spała, Poland Winner Quarter-finals －
Bremen, Germany Winner Quarter-finals －
Stockholm, Sweden Runner-up Quarter-finals －
2014 Dubai, UAE* Semi-finals － －
Kuwait City, Kuwait Winner Quarter-finals －
Doha, Qatar Rd of 16 Semi-finals －
Chengdu, China Semi-finals Winner －
Stockholm, Sweden Winner Runner-up －
2015 Kuwait City, Kuwait Semi-finals Semi-finals －
Kobe, Japan Semi-finals Runner-up －
Chengdu, China Semi-finals Winner －
Warsaw, Poland Winner Rd of 16 －
Stockholm, Sweden Winner Runner-up －
Lisbon, Portugal* Runner-up － －
2016 Kuwait City, Kuwait Semi-finals Semi-finals －
Doha, Qatar Runner-up Winner －
Tokyo, Japan Winner Semi-finals －
Incheon, South Korea Semi-finals Semi-finals －
Chengdu, China Winner Runner-up －
Doha, Qatar* Runner-up － －
2017 Doha, Qatar Runner-up Quarter-finals －
Tokyo, Japan Runner-up Semi-finals －
Magdeburg, Germany Semi-finals Quarter-finals －
Stockholm, Sweden Runner-up Winner －
Astana, Kazakhstan* Winner － －
2018 Budapest, Hungary Winner Winner (with Yu Ziyang) －
Doha, Qatar Winner Winner (with Xu Xin) －
Shenzhen, China Runner-up Winner (with Lin Gaoyuan) －
Stockholm, Sweden Winner Rd of 16 (with Liang Jingkun) －
Linz, Austria Semi-finals Quarter-finals (with Wang Chuqin) －
Incheon, South Korea* Quarter-finals － －
2019 Budapest, Hungary Semi-finals Runner-up (with Lin Gaoyuan) －
Shenzhen, China Quarter-finals － Prelim Rd 2 (with Ding Ning)
Sapporo, Japan Semi-finals Winner (with Xu Xin) Semi-finals (with Ding Ning)
Busan, South Korea Quarter-finals Winner (with Xu Xin) －
Geelong, Australia Rd of 16 Semi-finals (with Xu Xin) －
Stockholm, Sweden Semi-finals Winner (with Xu Xin) －
Bremen, Germany Winner Semi-finals (with Lin Gaoyuan) －
Linz, Austria Winner Rd of 16 (with Wang Chuqin) －
Zhengzhou, China* Winner Winner (with Xu Xin) －

  *   ITTF World Tour Grand Finals

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References
  1. "Will Fan Zhendong be the Next Grand Slam Champion?". Team USA. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  2. "Player profile". International Table Tennis Federation. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  3. "Athlete's Profile". 2014 Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee. Archived from the original on 3 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  4. "Fan Zhendong – Table Tennis' Rising Star". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  5. "Fan Zhendong set on the 2017 World Championships". International Table Tennis Federation. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  6. "April 2018 World Ranking Analysis: Fan Zhendong Tops the Chart". International Table Tennis Federation. 4 April 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  7. "I haven't reached my best: Fan". DOHA Stadium Plus. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  8. "Fan Zhendong: I have not reached my best". International Table Tennis Federation. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  9. "Fan Zhendong". TableTennis Reference. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
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