Chuang Chih-yuan

Chuang Chih-yuan (Chinese: 莊智淵; pinyin: Zhuāng Zhìyuān; born 2 April 1981) is a Taiwanese table tennis player.[4] He won the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals in 2002 and doubles title at the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships. He participated in the Summer Olympics five times, making the most appearances at Olympic Games among Taiwanese athletes.[5]

Chuang Chih-yuan
Personal information
Born (1981-04-02) 2 April 1981
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Height1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)[1]
Weight60 kg (132 lb; 9 st 6 lb)[1]
Table tennis career
Playing styleRight-handed shakehand grip
Highest ranking3 (December 2003)[2]
Current ranking28 (26 September 2023)[3]
Medal record
Men's table tennis
Representing  Chinese Taipei
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2013 Paris Doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Tokyo Team
World Cup
Silver medal – second place 2013 Guangzhou Team
Asian Games
Silver medal – second place 2002 Busan Singles
Bronze medal – third place 1998 Bangkok Team
Bronze medal – third place 2002 Busan Team
Bronze medal – third place 2006 Doha Doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2006 Doha Team
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Incheon Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Incheon Team
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Jakarta Team
Bronze medal – third place2022 HangzhouDoubles
Bronze medal – third place2022 HangzhouTeam
Asian Championships
Silver medal – second place 2000 Doha Team
Silver medal – second place 2003 Bangkok Team
Silver medal – second place 2021 Doha Singles
Silver medal – second place 2021 Doha Team
Silver medal – second place 2023 Pyeongchang Team
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Yangzhou Doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Yangzhou Team
Bronze medal – third place 2013 Busan Team
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Pattaya Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Pattaya Team
Asian Cup
Bronze medal – third place2013 Hong KongSingles
Bronze medal – third place2022 BangkokSingles
In this Chinese name, the family name is Chuang.

Career in table tennis

Chuang's parents were both table tennis players in Taiwan.[6][7] His father was a national doubles champion, and his mother Lee Kuei-mei was a member of the national team. After the end of Lee's career as a player, her son, Chih-yuan, became one of her prodigies in table tennis.

Chuang started competing in 1989, at the age of eight.[4] From the age of 13 his mother sent him to China for training several times. Chuang first made it to the Taiwan national team in 1998. In 1999, Chuang made his World Championships and ITTF Pro Tour debut.[8] At the end of 2000, his mother decided to let Chuang train in Europe, including France and Germany. The process made his matches a combination of the Chinese and European playing styles.

2002 was a sparkling year in Chuang's career. He reached his first three finals on the Pro Tour, but ended them all as the runner-up. He entered the world top ten list in September, won the silver medal at the Asian Games and participated in his first World Cup. At the year's end, he consecutively faced the opponents who defeated him in the previous three finals of the Pro Tour, and recorded three straight wins at the Pro Tour Grand Finals.[9][10] He defeated Jean-Michel Saive in the quarter-final, Wang Hao in the semi-final, and Kalinikos Kreanga in the final, claiming the title of Grand Finals champion.

Chuang won his first singles title on the Pro Tour at the Brazil Open in 2003, and reached No. 3, the highest world ranking of his career, at the end of the year.[2] He advanced to the quarter-finals in the 2004 Athens Olympics, ending the Games with a loss to Wang Hao.[11] In the men's doubles, he and teammate Chiang Peng-lung reached the last 16, where they were beaten by Błaszczyk and Krzeszewski of Poland.[11]

In July 2008, his own table tennis stadium, Chih Yuan The Ping-Pong Stadium, opened in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.[12] At that year's Olympics, he was beaten in the third round by Yang Zi of Singapore.[11] He reached the bronze medal match four years later at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where he lost to Dimitrij Ovtcharov.[13]

In May 2013, in the 52nd World Table Tennis Championships held in Paris, France, Chuang Chih-yuan and Chen Chien-an defeated Hao Shuai and Ma Lin 9–11, 12–10, 11–6, 13–11, 9–11, 11–8 in the final, and won the men's doubles title. Chuang and Chen became the first athletes in Taiwan to win any World Table Tennis Championships titles. In the following year, Chuang helped Chinese Taipei men's team reach semifinals at the World Team Table Tennis Championships, making Taiwanese record in the men's team event.

In September 2019 he announced he will not play anymore for the Chinese Taipei national team.[14][15] It was stated that the main reason for his decision was disagreement with the Chinese Taipei association in that he wants to focus on singles competition and leave a position to youngsters in team events. Chuang returned to the team in 2020, and participated in the Summer Olympics for the fifth time.[16] He continued to compete in international tournaments after the Tokyo Olympics. In 2022, Chuang clinched the men's singles title at one of the WTT Feeder tournaments at the age of 41.[17]

Career summary

Singles (as of January 27, 2015):[8]

  • Olympics: semi-finals (2012)
  • World Championships: round of 16 (2003, 2007)
  • World Cup appearances: 10. Best record: quarter-finals (2006, 10)
  • ITTF World Tour titles: 4 (Brazil 2003, Chile 2011, Spanish Open 2012 and Hungarian Open 2016). Runner-up: 10 (Qatar, Japan, Dutch Open 2002; Danish Open 2003; USA, Japan Open 2004; Singapore Open 2006; Austrian, German Open 2008; Hungarian Open 2010)
  • ITTF World Tour Grand Finals appearances: 12. Won in 2002.
  • Asian Games: runner-up (2002).

Awards

Personal life

On October 27, 2012, Chuang married Gladys Shi in his home town of Kaohsiung, Taiwan.[21]

References
  1. "Athlete's Profile". 2014 Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  2. "ITTF world ranking". ITTF. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  3. "ITTF Table Tennis World Ranking". ittf.com. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  4. "ITTF Biography". ITTF. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  5. "Participations by athlete". olympedia.org. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  6. Chou, Li-Chiang (16 May 2008). 莊智淵的朋友與敵人 (in Chinese). mass-age.com. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  7. 高雄新鮮人─莊智淵的桌球世界. Kaohsiung e-paper (in Chinese). Kaohsiung City Government. 22 August 2008. Archived from the original on 15 August 2011. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  8. "ITTF Statistics". ITTF. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
  9. Peter Jensen (13 December 2002). "Learning the hard way". ITTF. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  10. Peter Jensen (15 December 2002). "CHUAN out on top". ITTF. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  11. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Chuang Chih-Yuan". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 26 March 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  12. "Official website of Chih Yuan The Ping-Pong Stadium" (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 12 September 2009. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  13. "Chuang Chih-yuan eyes one last Olympic Games". taiwantoday.tw. 6 May 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  14. "被迫打亞錦賽 莊智淵心酸砲轟：不能用就丟旁邊！". Liberty Times (in Chinese). 31 August 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  15. "深夜震撼彈 莊智淵宣佈不打東京奧運". Liberty Times (in Chinese). 1 September 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  16. "Taiwanese table tennis veteran reverses Tokyo Olympics decision". Taiwan News. 9 January 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  17. "Taiwan's Chuang Chih-yuan wins men's singles title in U.S." Central News Agency. 16 May 2022. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  18. Huang, Chiu-Ming (9 September 2003). 92體育精英獎／莊智淵擊敗曹錦輝　摘下最佳男運動員 (in Chinese). NOWnews.com. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  19. 莊智淵、許淑淨獲2012最佳運動員 (in Chinese). Liberty Times. 6 December 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  20. "Past Winners" (in Chinese). Ten Outstanding Young Persons' Foundation Co. Archived from the original on 9 October 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  21. "ON 27TH OCTOBER CHUAN CHIH-YUAN MARRIED GLADYS SHI". Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
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