A companion piece to our 'Get To Know Each Men's Team', below you can find an overview of the 10 women's teams. The teams will go through a total of 18 rounds of competition in a double round-robin basis this winter to compete for the title of 2017 CTTSL. This article is to ease you into the world of Chinese table tennis and know more about each team in 2017 CTTSL.
1. Wuhan Hundred Percent -- The Defending Champion
Wuhan Hundred Percent, established in 2015, is a very new but strong team. It placed 2nd in 2015 and won the CTTSL title in 2016 with the introduction of Liu Shiwen. The defending champion led by Liu Shiwen and Feng Yalan is such a powerful team even with the absence of Liu Gaoyang who has transferred to Shandong Luneng. In addition, young athletes Zhang Rui, Qian Tianyi and Sun Yizhen are joining the team this year. The absence of Liu Gaoyang may weaken their doubles and ability to secure the decider 5th match. However the new doubles, with,Feng Yalan pairing up with 3 young athletes, have been doing great and with Liu Shiwen and Feng Yalan, the team rarely needs to play 5 full matches in order to win the competition. Therefore, Wuhan Hundred Percent is still a major contender for winning the CTTSL title.
2. Shandong Luneng -- Leading Contender With Tremendous Depth
Shandong Luneng, the runner-up from last year, has tremendous depth and a well-balanced roster. Not much has changed with the team's roster except the incoming of Liu Gaoyang and Jiang Hui. The team is led by one of the Big 4 Zhu Yuling. Gu Yuting, Li Xiaodan, Liu Gaoyang and Fan Siqi are solid players who can fill up the spots in singles and doubles and secure the victory for the team. There are a lot of talents on this squad but Fan Siqi who won the National Games women's team champion representing team Sichuan is a dynamic young player (1998-born) to watch. She can play under pressure and put up huge scores when it comes to a critical decider match. While other players are as outstanding, if not better off, as Fan Siqi and I think they can stand up to the defending champion Wuhan Hundred Percent.
3. Shandong Qilu Jiaotong -- Champion Pending On Consistency
Shandong Qilu is looking strong as a team. The team has a world-class chopper, Wu Yang and promising young player Chen Xingtong who has won 2 World Tour women's singles titles in 2017. Pairing up with Chen Xingtong is her long-time double partner Wen Jia who is an experienced player and has competed in CTTSL for 9 years. The team has also introduced 2 young newcomers, Liu Weishan and Shi Xunyao in 2017. Yet it seems that the team would rather stick to Wu Yang, Chen Xingtong and Wen Jia in most occasions leaving the other young players as bench warmers. The team may not enjoy the same depth that Shandong Luneng has but it comes down to who is better off on court. Chen Xingtong is definitely the star on the team. She could be phenomenal on a good day but also completely off when that was not her day. If the team can keep up with its consistency throughout the league, I believe this team has a good shot of challenging the champion.
4. Bayi Jingbo-- The Richly Diverse Team
If the Sichuan men's team is labelled as the richly diverse team (in playing style and experience), then the women's version should go to Bayi Jingbo. The team is composed of experienced short-pips player Mu Zi who took a crucial part carrying the team for a top 4 placement, young but powerful short-pips player Sun Mingyang who competed in several World Tour in 2017, Hu Limei the chopper who made to the World Championships in 2013 and players with inverted rubbers Liu Xi, Huang Fanzhen and a left-handed penholder Li Ruonan. Although the team tends to put Mu Zi, Sun Mingyang and Hu Limei in the line-up for most of the time and seldom do we get to see the young players playing singles, the team is trying out new doubles partnership who knows one day we might get to see the left-handed penholder making her debut in CTTSL? The team defeated many strong contenders and ended up top 4 at 2016 CTTSL, so I won't count them out for making the top 4.
5. Beijing Shougang -- Striving For A Small But Ambitious Goal
Right before the start of 2017 CTTSL, Sheng Dandan mentioned in an interview (watch it here) that their goal is to become one of the top 3 teams in this season. We might think it is not a big deal since the team has Ding Ning, who is very capable of winning 2 points for the team. However judging by Ding Ning's reaction in the interview, we could learn it is quite an ambitious goal as other than Ding Ning and Sheng Dandan, the team is composed of post-97 players who are inexperience in CTTSL. With the absence of Doo Hoi Kem in this season, making the top 3 would be even challenging for the team and needs to rely heavily on Ding Ning and Sheng Dandan. Like other team, Beijing Shougang is trying out their doubles combination and Zhao Lin joining the team this year has been up in the doubles twice. The 18-year-old represented Team Guangxi and made a striking 12-match winning streak (defeating Chen Meng) in the preliminary round of the team event at National Games. As the only short-pips on the team, her unique playing style may create chemistry in doubles that other players with inverted rubber could not bring. My honest opinion is that ending up top 3 is a very ambitious goal for the team especially after losing 2 rounds. Perhaps the team would take this opportunity to put its young players into test and learn from Ding Ning since no team will be relegate in this season.
6. Shenzhen University -- Quality Over Quantity
Shenzhen University is a relatively small team as compare to the previous teams that we have introduced but I believe this is a safe and sound team with good prospects. The entire team is formed of 4 A Team members and has a similar squad as last year with the absence of Qian Tianyi and Zhang Chi. The up side of the team is that they do not need to work on new doubles partnership while the down side is the questionable condition of Chen Meng. As Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha were assigned the most number of competitions in this year among national team members. I am not surprise if they do not have their best days in the league at the end of the year. Fortunately, the other 2 members are coming in strong in the second half of the year. Wang Yidi made her name out there in the Chinese National Games women's singles. She ended up 4th place in the competition and earned herself a spot in the A Team and opportunity to compete at World Tour. Whereas He Zhuojia, who used to be a practice partner who imitates the playing style of Fukuhara Ai, finished at 1st place in the Co-Team -A-and-Team-B internal competition and promoted to the A Team in November. Shenzhen University will be expected to send a huge message to the crowd that quality is always more important than quantity.
7. Changbai Mountain Rural Commercial Bank -- The 3-Man Band
Despite having 5 players on the team, it is more likely a 3-man-band in practice as Xiao Hanxu and Bai Yanke are nowhere near the level of the other 3 members on the team and missing Liu Fei and Seo Hyo Won have hurt the depth of the team. The team is relying heavily on Wang Manyu, an anticipated leader of the future generation of the Chinese women's team. Whereas Chen Ke is a solid player for singles and doubles. She competed in several World Tour and won the U21 women's singles champion in German Open and Yuan Xuejiao is a reliable player to guard the decisive 5th match. I would say the team is quite competitive before round 3 but Wang Manyu got injured right before round 3 and has immediately revealed the vulnerability of the team, lacking of depth. Although Chen Ke did her job and score 2 points for the team, the team failed to put enough players on court and forced to forgo 2 matches an lost the competition. Other than that, Changbai Mountain RCB is an exciting team to watch. What can be more exciting than watching Wang Manyu's powerful backhand and Chen Ke's strong forehand shots?
8. Longfu Huanneng -- A Quite Team With Good Potentials
Many have said no foreign players are allowed to play at 2017 CTTSL but it is proved untrue when Feng Tianwei competed for Longfu Huanneng in round 2. Apart from her, the team is formed of Li Jiayi a capable player who adopted a powerful style like Feng Yalan, Zhang Qiang, a penholder whose reverse backhand is quite unique while her forehand lacks a bit of power, Liu Fei the chopper who took the 3rd place at T2 APAC and Zhu Zhaohui a left-handed player who is perfect for doubles. There are capable players on the team but no one as dominating as the Big 4 that can score big points for the team. This makes the team good but not great enough to make to the top ranks. However without the big names, this team provides a stage for the less-heard players to prove themselves and explore their potentials.
9. Shanxi Datuhe -- A Team Of Choppers And Short-Pips
Shanxi Datuhe managed to keep the squad from last year. 4 out of the 7 members are from the 2015 Universiade gold medalist and is led by 2017 Chinese National Games women's team silver medalist, Che Xiaoxi . The team has players with unique playing style such as Zheng Sichang a chopper playing with inverted rubber (smooth rubber defense) and Guo Yichen is a traditional chopper with pips-out in her backhand. Liu Ming and Jiang Yue play with short-pips and Mu Jingyu is a penholder. Che Xiaoxi is capable of winning some points for the team but the team's overall level may put them around the bottom half of the leader board. However results aside, sometimes I would rather seeing some rare playing style like smooth rubber defense than the conventional style.
10. Sichuan Qionglong -- The Underdogs
Members of Sichuan Qionglong are all from the Sichuan women's team. For those who had followed 2017 Chinese National Games may know that the Sichuan women's are great as they won their historic National Games team champion in September. However without Zhu Yuling and Fan Siqi Sichuan Qionglong is not comparable to the champion-winning team at the National Games. Yang Huijing is the pillar of the team, while Yuan Yuan and Guo Yan are young players on the team. The team did not manage to win a round at 2016 CTTSL and settled for the last place. I have no high expectation on this team with no big names in it and will be very happy if they managed to win 1 round which they did in round 3 winning over Beijing Shougang. Sichuan Xiongqi (literally means Jiayou or keep going in Sichuan dialect)!
The line-up of each women's team at 2017 CTTSL.
I hope this overview will give you a better idea who is on the team and enjoy 2017 CTTSL better. Check out our 'Get To Know Each Men's Team' if you have not yet read that and do not miss our 2017 CTTSL Guide that provides you an ‘All-You-Need-To-Know’ information kit including the history, past champions, competition format and full schedule / line-up about the League. Let us know which team you think could win the champion in the comment box below!
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