The Y2Klub: Huang Yingqi, The Little Liu Shiwen

Photo: ITTF

Many have written in asking to learn more about young Chinese table tennis athletes. So the Y2Klub is back! The series will introduce three athletes in the coming weeks or so about who they are and why you should get to know them.


Niu Guankai and Huang Yingqi from China had some solid performance in the recent 2017 World Cadet Challenge. Since we have introduced Niu Guankai in the previous articles, this edition of Y2Klub will feature Huang Yingqi, the 2002-born promising athlete from Guangdong.

Huang Yingqi stared playing table tennis at 5 because her father who is a table tennis lover enrolled her into a table tennis class at Li Ching Table Tennis Club. Born and raised in Guangdong, she trained under coach Wu Guanghui, the coach of Li Ching (2004 Olympics men's doubles silver medalist), in the club and entered the Guangdong provincial team in 2013. Her coach Wu Guanghui said, "Huang Yingqi is agile like Liu Shiwen and powerful like Guo Yue and has the potentials to become an outstanding table tennis player."

Despite she is still a provincial team member (update: she entered the national B Team after a relegation competition in November 2017), Huang Yingqi has represented China to compete in cadet and junior competition since 2016 and helped the Chinese team win cadet girls' team champion in Asian Junior Championships and Junior Circuit. She is also 2-time cadet girls' doubles champion at World Cadet Challenge. 

Earlier this year, she made her senior debut at 2017 Czech Open where she bowed out in the qualification round. It may not be an outstanding result but she was so close to making it to the main round. Check the match between her and Hungarian table tennis player Dora Madarasz here. 

Huang Yingqi did quite good against attackers but she had a tough time playing against Japanese young chopper, Soma Yumeno. She lost twice to her this year. Once in Asian Junior Championships and the other at World Cadet Challenge. As compared to her 0-3 destructive defeat at Asian Junior Championships, she made some improvements levelling the game to 3-3 after trailing 0-3 down at the World Cadet Challenge. The footage did not cover the last 4 games of the match at World Cadet Challenge, otherwise, it is a good video to review.

The Guangdong women's team has been running out of table tennis players at a high level to contend with other provincial teams in China. They missed out the main round of the 2017 Chinese National Games despite Liu Shiwen earning 2 points in every team competition. If Huang Yingqi could become one of the top players like her compatriot, Liu Shiwen, it would not only be a good news for the national team but to Guangdong provincial team as well.


Competitive Highlights
2016 Chinese Cadet National Championships Cadet Girls' Singles 4th place
2016 ITTF World Cadet Challenge Cadet Girls' Doubles Champion
2017 China Junior & Cadet Open Cadet Girls' Singles Champion

2017 Asian Junior and Cadet Championships Cadet Girls' Singles Runner-up

2017 ITTF World Cadet Challenge Cadet Girls' Singles Runner-up

2016 ITTF World Cadet Challenge Cadet Girls' Doubles Champion

References:
我市乒乓球选手黄颖琦省赛夺冠11岁女娃梦想成为奥运冠军， Zhuhai Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau

Thanks for reading the Y2Klub series, next week at the same time we will introduce, an upcoming right-handed penholder, Xu Haidong who will represent China to compete in the World Junior Championships this December. Please fill in the short survey "What do you like about this blog" and leave comments so that we can make better articles for you!