Throwback Thursday: The Giant Slayer -- Mu Zi

If you have followed Adam's commentary (the ITTF commentary), you must have heard of the term "Giant Slayer" which he (in the Chinese men's team context) referred to Shang Kun who beat Ma Long in 2015 Japan Open. "Giant Slayer" generally refers to a less-known but skillful player who pull down the favorite of the match. This week's Throwback Thursday features the women's "Giant Slayer", Mu Zi, who will be playing women's singles in 2017 World Championships.

The Veteran

I remember some people asked whether Mu Zi and Feng Yalan are men in the live chat of Marvellous 12 when the two players played against each other. Indeed their playing style or their looks are quite manly. Mu Zi, the right-handed player, whose best weapon is her powerful forehand loop and great footwork. She uses short-pips on her backhand which allows her to flick the ball in a very fast speed. So get ready for her amazing forehand rallies which are very likely to be showed up in 2017 WTTC.

The 28 year-old Liaoning-born, made the national team A in 2006. Her first national champion came in 2010 when she paired up with Wu Hao in mixed doubles. She earned 2 more national women's doubles title in 2012 and 2013 in spite of being demoted to team B in 2012 (as she did not rank high enough to keep her spot in the internal match). Her other career highlights include two 1st runner-up in mixed doubles in 2009 (partnering Zhang Jike) and 2011 Worlds (partnering Hao Shuai) and finishing 3rd in women's singles in 2015 WTTC, losing to Ding Ning in the semi-finals. She mentioned in an interview that standing 3rd on the podium feels better than 2nd as she recalled she was in tears in the 2 times she stood on the second place (probably because she was so close to the champion and the award ceremony happened right after the match) while she was quite satisfied settling for third in the women's singles in 2015. However being a world champion has always been her goal and she hopes to represent China in team event. Despite 2017 WTTC is an individual-event World Championships, it's a few chances she could make her dream comes true. After all, 28 years old is not a young age in the women's table tennis world and she hinted that she might consider retiring after 2017 Chinese National Games in an interview a few years ago. We will wait and see whether there will be miracles for the 28 year-old veteran in Dusseldorf.


The Giant Slayer

Since the Chinese team has many talented players, not every player has the chance to play in World Tour to earn points for the world rankings. Mu Zi is one of them. She came into 2015 WTTC without a world ranking and started her 2015 WTTC all the way from the qualification round with a 3-digit number tag on her back (the number tag usually indicates the world ranking of the player, most Chinese players who are among the top usually have a 1-digit number tag). Despite the low world ranking, she is a very competitive player and made the podium in 2015. In 2017, Mu Zi will probably wearing a 3-digit number tag again because she comes to Dusseldorf with no world ranking. 

World ranking does not tell the whole picture. Mu Zi is well-recognized as the giant slayer who has stopped many top Chinese players from taking the ticket to Worlds in the past Chinese Trials, including Guo Yue, Li Xiaoxia, Ding Ning, Liu Shiwen, Wu Yang, Zhu Yuling etc. The followings are some matches deserve to be highlighted.

2011 Chinese Trials -- Li Xiaoxia Vs Mu Zi

The match that secured Mu Zi's tickets to Rotterdam 2011 WTTC.

2015 Chinese Trials -- Ding Ning Vs Mu Zi

This was a very close match between Ding Ning and Mu Zi. Unfortunately this did not repeat in 2015 WTTC semi-finals (it was a very close and amazing match too).

2016 CTTSL 3rd Round of Stage 1 -- Liu Shiwen Vs Mu Zi

The format of CTTSL is to play a short set (ending at 7 points instead of 11) in the decisive set. The short competition format (players do not need to pick up the balls) fast forward the pace of the competition. With Liu Shiwen lightning fast style and Mu Zi quick follow up, the players played many quick rallies in the match and should be one of the must-watch matches in 2016 CTTSL.

2017 Marvellous 12 Chinese Trials Stage 1 -- Ding Ning Vs Mu Zi

The match went wild not just because of the powerful loops and the insane rallies but also the cheer from the crowd. Don't know whether it is a good thing to play under a loud crowd and on a LED table tennis table. But this match should be part of the reasons for having Mu Zi to play in this year's women's singles, so it may be a good thing for Mu Zi?

The reason for featuring Feng Yalan, Lin Gaoyuan and Mu Zi, rather than the "Famous Four" (both men's and women's team) in the past weeks is that I think looking at stories of other players are often more encouraging than the well-known ones (don't get me wrong, their stories are inspiring as well). Probably because the stories of the underdogs often show hard-work and determination (talent is a smaller part) really pay off when it comes to a success. In the story of Mu Zi, she made a comeback after the demotion in 2012. Despite lacking experience in international meets, she fights strong and fearlessly against the top players. Even when the chance of making to the international scene is small (due to her playing style and age), she has stuned us with surprising victory match after match. Her story has told us never give up and the chance will come one day. 

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