The Y2Klub: China's Sweetheart, Wang Tianyi

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. The Y2Klub series will introduce the next generation of Chinese players, mostly the post 00's. Follow the series to learn about the future World champion hopefuls! In the previous posts, we have introduced some outstanding Chinese young athletes, today we will look at a younger athlete who is still playing in the cadet level, Wang Tianyi.

Photo: Souhu

What makes you like table tennis? The spin, variations, speed, people... The answers may vary among different people but for 2002-born Wang Tianyi, the sound of the table tennis attracts her to get involved in table tennis. One day when she was watching her brother playing table tennis, a coach asked her to play a few balls and discovered her potentials in the sport. She entered Shandong Luneng Club in 2012 to have a more professional training. 4 years later she placed second in the 2016 Chinese Nationals cadet girls' singles and qualified to the national team.

In 2017, not long after she made to the national team, Wang Tianyi was assigned to play in the China Junior & Cadet Open and Asian Junior and Cadet Championships. Her outstanding performance in the Asian Junior and Cadet Championships cadet girls' team final helped Team China to secure the team title. She also made to the cadet girls' single semifinals but lost to Japanese chopper Soma Yumeno.

Shown below is the 5th game of the 4th match of the team final with Wang Tianyi from China in black playing against Shin Yubin from Korea in red. Wang Tianyi had a strong opening in the first match of the team finals which she defeated Korean player, Ryu Hanna 3-0. However it was not an easy victory for the 4th match as the match was 2-2 even after 4 games and Wang Tianyi was 2:5 behind in the 5th game. Fortunately she did not give up and made a dramatic comeback by winning 12:10 with a 2-point margin.

15-year-old Wang Tianyi is still young and has a bright future ahead. She might not be showing up too often in the international competitions but she is definitely an athlete that we should put an eye on. We wish her reach all her goals for this year and those for the future and make her name in the international scene.


Competitive Highlights
International
Luneng Sports 2016 Australian Junior & Cadet Open Junior Girls' Singles Champion

2017 Asian Junior and Cadet Championships Cadet Girls' Singles Semifinalist
National
2016 Chinese Nationals Cadet Girls' Singles 1st Runner-up


References:
"王添艺：天生就有那股不服输的劲！", Table Tennis World
"ITTF Database", ITTF