15 Facts About Deng Yaping

Deng Yaping is a Chinese table tennis player, who won eighteen world championships including four Olympic championships between 1989 and 1997.

Deng Yaping is regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport.

Deng Yaping began playing table tennis aged five, and four years later she won the provincial junior championship.

Deng Yaping was age 13 when she won her first national championship.

Deng Yaping was finally included on the national team in 1988.

Deng Yaping teamed with Qiao Hong to win her first world championship title in the women's doubles competition in 1989.

Two years later in 1991, Deng Yaping won her first singles world championship.

Deng Yaping earned singles and doubles titles at the 1995 and 1997 world championships.

Deng Yaping was voted Chinese female athlete of the century, and joined the International Table Tennis Federation Hall of Fame in 2003.

Deng Yaping is still deeply involved with the national Chinese table tennis scene and frequently speaks to the media.

Deng Yaping was a color-commentator for the Women's World Cup in 2020.

In June 2021, Deng Yaping claimed that Mima Ito was not a serious threat to the Chinese women's Olympic hopes.

Deng Yaping was the CEO of Jike Search, a state-run search engine.

Deng Yaping is a member of the elite Laureus World Sports Academy, and a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Deng Yaping gained a bachelor's degree from Tsinghua University, an MRes degree in Contemporary Chinese Studies from the University of Nottingham in 2002, and a PhD degree in Land Economy from the University of Cambridge in 2008.