Li Ching, one of the most improved in 2006

Li Ching was born on March 7, 1975 in Guangdong province in China and he plays for Hong Kong, China. He joined the Chinese national team in 1990. Later, in 1994, Li Ching shifted to Hong Kong. In the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, he paired with Ko Lai Chak to win the Men’s silver medal. In 2006, in the Asian Games in Doha, they combined again to win the gold medal. However, in the singles, the Chinese eliminated him in the semifinals. Li Ching is ranked twelfth in the world now. He has been steadily improving in the rankings over the last 6 years. In January and February 2007, he was in the eleventh place but in March and April, he had slipped to the twelfth position. In February 2006, Li Ching found his name in the top twenty players, placed at number twenty. One of the toughest matches Li Ching played in the recent times was at the Liebherr Qatar Open in Doha in February 2007. Li Ching was down at two games to one deficit against the Russian Fedor Kuzmin. At the end of the third game, the scores were 7-11, 9-11, and 11-9 for Li Ching. He managed to take the fourth game at 11-7 but the Russian came back in the fifth at 11-9. However, Li Ching followed his services with strong and fast attacks. He played a wonderful game close to the net, with his penhold grip style. He took the next 3 games at 11-6, 11-8, and 11-9 to win the match against the Russian.

At the Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals held in Hong Kong in December 2006, Li Ching proved that he was one of the most improved players in 2006. Li Ching was facing Wang Liqin. He gave the world number one a very strong fight. Li Ching took the first game at 11-8. The second game was an extended one, with both players not giving an inch. Finally, Li Ching won at 15-13. Wang Liqin took the next 2 games easily at 11-3 and 11-2. In the fifth game, Li Ching again fought back and took the game at 11-9. But the world number one proved too good for Li Ching. Wang Liqin came back from the 2-3 deficit to take the next 2 games at 11-7 and 11-6.

In the Panasonic Open in China in December 2006, Li Ching won a thrilling game against current world number one Ma Lin in the third round, stopping the previous unbeaten run of Ma Lin on the ITTF Pro Tour. The speed of Li Ching helped him to gain a 3-0 lead early in the game, with 11-8, 11-8, and 11-7 wins. However, he became a little excited and started making mistakes. Ma Lin seized the opportunity and came back to take the next 3 games at 11-9, 11-6, and 11-8. Now, both the players were equal at 3-all. Li Ching later said that he told himself to think that he was at the start of the game at love-all. He started attacking Ma Lin in a strong fashion, and when Ma Lin made a few mistakes, he took the initiative to close the game at 11-7 and won the match to progress to quarterfinals.