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| Cui Qinglei in the men's team award ceremony Photo by 李武军 |
Who is Cui Qinglei
28-year-old, Hebei-born Cui Qinglei started playing table tennis at the age of 9 because he was fascinated with table tennis after watching his grandpa colleagues playing table tennis. In 2006, he won the Chinese Junior National Championships boy's singles title and started his journey in the Chinese national team. He played his first Chinese Table Tennis Super League (CTTSL) in 2008 and won the title with his team in the next year (Watch 2009 CTTSL Final here 1, 2, 3 of 3). He also won the Universiade men's team title and men's doubles title in 2009. However his momentum seems to slow down ever since. He played in Pro Tour and World Series in 2011 and 2013 and bowed out early. In late 2014, the Chinese national team organized a trial to select the 5th member of the 2015 World Team Cup. Chinese national team members and coaches voted 4 players, Fang Bo, Shang Kun, Cui Qinglei and Liu Yi to compete for the final spot. At the end Fang Bo beat Cui Qinglei, taking away the ticket for becoming a World Champion. Hard work does pay off. The national coaching team sees Cui Qinglei's effort and awarded him chances to support and train with the key players in 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympic training camps. In 2017, he was named to the Asian Championships team and walked away with a gold medal. Cui Qinglei is the veteran of the team. We might not be seeing him in international meets but he will participate the Chinese National Games, which will be held from 28 August to 6 September, for sure. So make sure you follow the Chinese National Games if you want to see more from him.
His First Chinese Super League in 2008
Cui Qinglei represented the Ningbo Haitian Club, alongside with Ma Long, Oh Sang-eun and Wu Hao, in 2008 CTTSL. Ma Long led the team finishing in top 4 after the round robin in the 1st stage and proceeded to the 2nd stage, which the knockout system was in play. Teams had to win 2 matches to move on to the finals. The following is the 5th match of round 1 in the second stage which Ningbo played against Shanghai, which later won that year's title.
Cui Qinglei played aggressively and was leading 2-1 after 3 sets. While in the 4th and 5th set, Xu Xin played more to Cui's backhand preventing him from making powerful flips and comeback with 11-8 and 11-7 helping Shanghai to win the first match in the 2nd stage. To my surprise Xu Xin used much more reverse backhand and traditional backhand push back in the days. Where does Xu Xin's backhand go? Comment below whether you feel the same or not.
Missing the Spot to 2015 World Team Cup
Fast forward to December 2014, the national team organized a trial to select the 5th person of the 2015 World Team Cup. It was a great chance for non-key players to win a World Cup title under his belt. As it is very likely to be a World champion once he is on the World Team Cup lineup. In the previous round, Cui Qinglei had a tough match with Shang Kun and won by 3-2 whereas Fang Bo beat Liu Yi 3-0. Cui Qinglei and Fang Bo played against each other to fight for the spot. The first set was a close match.Fang Bo leveled the game to 11-11 with a ball hitting the edge of the table and won the set 13-11 with 2 quick forehand loops. Cui Qinglei made mistakes in the 2nd set and was lagged far behind after 4-4 and lost 6-11. 2 sets behind, Cui Qinglei seems to lose hope in winning and finish the match with 4-11. Fang Bo took the last spot of the World Team Cup and became World Champion in 2015.
Gold in 2017 Asian Championships
We might not see Cui Qinglei play in 2017 Asian Championships but CCTV 5 news reported bits and pieces of him training in the championships. This might be the only chance for us to see him playing in the competition venue (training hall to be precise). As mentioned in the previous Throwback Thursday (12 Years on the Sidelines, Veterans are Valuable Assets to the Team), the success of the dominant Chinese team cannot do without the contribution of the nameless players. Cui Qinglei is the 'Chinese Dimitrij Ovtcharov'. He has imitated many European players and facilitated key players to prepare for international meets. Let's watch an interview with him in 2017 Asian Championships.
Bonus Video: Impression of Cui Qinglei
We have a brief idea of who Cui Qinglei is but we might not know him well. His teammates talked about their impression of Cui Qinglei in the 2017 Chinese New Year Party. There were a lot of joking happening but some are quite true, especially watching his competitions. Don't you think so?
Cui Qinglei may not be the best players in the team but he has certainly played like a role model. His qualities and experience are certainly assets of the Chinese national team. And his attitude is also what we can learn from. We might not be good enough to reach the top but we shall always try our best and get our job done as the best preparation for tomorrow is doing our best today. We hope Cui Qinglei enjoys his experience in 2017 Asian Championships and play well in the upcoming Chinese National Games.
I hope you enjoy this week's Throwback Thursday. You can find the previous Throwback Thursday by clicking the 'Throwback Thursday' tab on the top of the page. Guess who will be in next week's Throwback Thursday? Comment below and follow the blog for more updates. Let me know if the clips are not working.
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