The Y2Klub: 16-year-old Sun Shines in 2017 Japan Open, Sun Yingsha

There is a Chinese saying, "As in the Yangtze River, the waves behind ride on the ones before" which implies the younger generations excel the old. We are seeing more and more players of the millennial generation showing up in the international scene. As the 2017 Asian Junior and Cadet Championships will be held in 29 June, the Y2Klub series will introduce some Chinese players of the younger generations. And the series starts off with Sun Yingsha.

Photo: takkyu-links

In honor of Sun Yingsha's achievement of winning 2 champions in 2017 Japan Open, we've chosen 16-year-old Sun Yingsha from Hebei as the first Y2Klub player we really think you should get to know.

Sun Yingsha began playing table tennis when she was around 5 years old. She quickly rose through the competitive ranks and entered the Hebei Provincial team in 2012. 3 years later, she won the girls' singles champion in the 2015 Chinese Cadet Nationals where she beat Guo Yuhan in the finals and Qian Tianyi in the semifinals. Her outstanding performance has earned herself a spot in the national team.

In January 2017, Sun Yingsha, got promoted to the A Team after finishing third in the internal competition which the bottom 4 players from the A Team and top 4 players from the B Team played a robin round and the top 3 (Liu Xi, Gu Ruochen and Sun Yingsha) took the spots in the A Team while the others would be demoted or remain in Team B. Since she has just joined the A Team, we did not see her playing in the Marvellous 12 (2017 Chinese Trials). 

However good wine needs no bush, Sun Yingsha caught our attention in her senior debut by winning the women's singles and doubles champion in the 2017 Japan Open. It wasn't an easy ride to the titles as she defeated Chen Meng and Feng Tianwei to top the podium in the singles. 

Sun Yingsha mentioned in an interview that her strength is making few unforced error but I think her forehand is quite outstanding as well. Shown below is 2016 China Junior and Cadet Open junior girls' singles final which she played a close match against her Chinese compatriot, also a young talented player,Qian Tianyi. 

Sun Yingsha will be competing at the 2017 China Open held from 20 June to 25 June, T2 APAC scheduled from June to December and Chinese National Games (Women's singles, doubles and team event) scheduled in late- August. Stay tuned and see whether she can continued her success in Japan Open!

Competitive Highlights

International
2014 Asian Junior & Cadet Championships Cadet Girls' Singles Champion
2015 China Junior & Cadet Open- ITTF Golden Series Junior Circuit Cadet Girls' Singles Champion
2015 Asian Junior & Cadet Championships Cadet Girls' Singles 1st Runner-up
2016 Hong Kong Junior&Cadet Open-ITTF GoldenSeries Junior Circuit Junior Girls' Doubles Champion
2016 China Junior & Cadet Open-ITTF Golden Series Junior Circuit Junior Girls' Single 1st Runner-up
2017 Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Platinum, LION Japan Open Women's Doubles Champion
2017 Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Platinum, LION Japan Open Women's Singles Champion

National

2014 Chinese Junior Nationals Girls' Team Champion

2015 Chinese Cadet Nationals Girls' Singles Champion

2015 Chinese Junior Nationals Girls' Team Champion

2015 Chinese Junior Nationals Girls' Singles 2nd Runner-up

Here is an interview of Sun Yingsha produced by Stiga PPWG and it is subbed in English!

References:
"国乒女队一二队升降赛落幕 顾若辰领衔3人进一队", Sina
"国家乒乓球队选调运动员入队公示", CTTA
"【乒坛新面孔】孙颖莎：一步一步往上打！", Table Tennis World
"ITTF Statistics", ITTF