Kong Linghui, one of all-time greats in world table tennis

Kong Linghui was born in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China, on October 18, 1975. He started playing table tennis at the age of 6 and was included in the national team, when he was just 12 years of age. Kong plays with a shakehand grip and is very fast on both the flanks, with remarkable dexterity and tactics in his games. At present, Kong Linghui is placed twentieth in men’s singles world ranking. For several months in 2001, Kong was in the second place in world rankings. In the 1994 World Junior Table Tennis Championships event, he won the singles title and team title. He was also triumphant in the singles, mixed doubles, and team events for men in the Asian Table Tennis Championships in the same year. In the 1994 Asian Games, Kong won gold medals in the mixed doubles and team events.

In 1995, in the World Table Tennis Championships in Tianjin in China, he won the singles event and also the mixed doubles with Deng Yaping. He also triumphed in the World Cup in Nimes, France, in the men’s singles event. Kong and Liu Guoliang won men’s doubles gold in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. In the next Olympic Games held in Sydney in 2000, Kong got the gold in men’s singles and silver in men’s doubles event.

In the 1999 ITTF Pro Tour Championships, he won singles titles in Lievin, France and Linz/Wels, Australia. Earlier, in the same Championships in 1998, he emerged as the winner in singles events in Melbourne, Australia and Wakayama, Japan. Similarly, in 1997, he was the singles champion in Ipoh, Malaysia and Fort Lauderdale, United States in the same ITTF Pro Tour events.

Kong Linghui is the only player, along with Jan-Ove Waldner, who had been crowned Olympic champion, World champion, World Cup winner and continental champion. No other male players have achieved this feat so far. Still, Kong Linghui has one more title, which Waldner does not have. In 1995, Kong won the Men’s Singles event at the inaugural ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals. As such, he is the only male player in the world of table tennis, who had won all the five titles. Kong Linghui retired at the end of 2006 without any fuss. He is now assisting Shi Zhihao in coaching Chinese women’s team.

Kong Linghui and Waldner had a lot of similarity in their game and it was even said that Kong was a carbon copy of Waldner. However, there were certain tactics that made Kong a special player in his own right. In September 2000, in the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, Kong stormed into the finals after beating Joergen Persson 21-12, 13-21, 21-16, and 21-13. In the finals, he was up against the master Waldner, who had defeated Liu Guoliang in the other semifinals. Kong promptly won the first two games in the finals at 21-16 and 21-19. But Waldner fought back strongly and took the next 2 games 21-17 and 21-16. In the crucial fifth game, Kong held his nerve to win the game at 21-13 and was crowned with the gold medal. At that moment, Kong Linghui became the third player to complete a grand slam, after Liu Guoliang and Jan-Ove Waldner.