The Y2Klub: The Unstoppable Rising Star, Xu Yingbin

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! Today we will have a look at Xu Yingbin, who have just played in the Asian Junior & Cadet Championships in Ashan, Korea.

Photo: ITTF

Xu Yingbin, born in 2001, started playing table tennis at the age of 5 because his grandpa is a table tennis lover. He entered the Heilongjiang provincial team when he was 10. Despite his parents did not want Xu Yingbin went professional, his determination has won over his parents' opposition. In 2015 March, Xu Yingbin made to the national team after winning the 2014 national cadet boys' singles title (Northern Region) where he defeated Yang Shuo 4-3 after a 1-3 deficit and 6:9 down in the 5th game.

He is currently a member of the Team B. In 2016, the Chinese team sent a relatively inexperienced team, Xu Yingbin, Xu Haidong, Yang Shuo, Yu Heyi for the boys' team, to the World Junior Table Tennis Championships. Among the 4 athletes, Xu Yingbin was the earliest person to join the national team and the national team coaches had high hopes on him. However his performance was unsatisfying as he bowed out early in the round of 16 of boys' singles, losing to Korean player, Cho Seungmin who defeated Jun Mizutani and made to the semifinals of the men's singles in 2017 Australia Open.

2017 is half way through and Xu Yingbin was assigned quite a lot of international junior competitions, including the 2017 China Junior & Cadet Open, 2017 Asian Junior & Cadet Championships and the 2017 Hong Kong Junior&Cadet Open which will be held in 2 August. He also did a decent job in the Chinese National Games Prelims and made to the main draw in mixed doubles, men's singles and men's team.

Shown below is the recent junior boys' team final in 2017 Asian Junior & Cadet Championships. It is enjoyable to watch Xu Yingbin playing table tennis as both his forehand and backhand are powerful and aggressive. It would be better if he improves his soft touches near the net.

Competitive Highlights:
International
Nikon 2015 Hong Kong Junior&Cadet Open-ITTF GoldenSeries Junior Circuit Junior Boys' Doubles Champion
Nikon 2015 Hong Kong Junior&Cadet Open-ITTF GoldenSeries Junior Circuit Cadet Boys' Doubles Champion
Nikon 2015 Hong Kong Junior&Cadet Open-ITTF GoldenSeries Junior Circuit Junior Boys' Singles 1st Runner-up
2016 ITTF World Tour Pyongyang Open (Challenge) Men's Doubles Champion
2016 ITTF World Tour Pyongyang Open (Challenge) Men's Singles 1st Runner-up
2017 China Junior & Cadet Open, ITTF Golden Series Junior Circuit Junior Boys' Singles 1st Runner-up

National
2014 Chinese Nationals Cadet Boys' Singles (Northern Region) Champion
2015 Chinese Youth Games Junior Boys' Doubles 1st Runner-up


References:
"徐瑛彬：我是一个有梦想的人！-乒乓世界", Table Tennis World
"ITTF Statistics", ITTF


I am sorry for not updating according to the schedule due to some technical problems. Follow the blog and the Y2Klub series updated on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I am planning to write previews on the upcoming Chinese National Games in August. Comment below and tell me your thoughts on this blog and table tennis!