Zhang Jike - 张继科 - Chinese table tennis player

Zhang Jike (simplified Chinese: 张继科; traditional Chinese: 張繼科; pinyin: Zhāng Jìkē; born 16 February 1988) is a Chinese table tennis player. As of May 2017, he is ranked 4th in the ITTF rankings.
Zhang became the fourth male player in the history of table tennis to achieve a career Grand Slam when he won gold in men's singe gold at the Olympic games in London 2012, (The first three are Jan-Ove Waldner (in 1992), Liu Guoliang (in 1999), and Kong Linghui (in 2000).) Zhang won the Grand Slam in only 445 days, that is, he won consecutively first in WTTC 2011, then World Cup 2011, and then London Olympics 2012, which made him the fastest player ever to do so. After the first Grand Slam, he continued to win in WTTC 2013 and World Cup 2014, which makes him one who is the closest to achieve a second career Grand Slam. As of December 2016, he is one of the two male players who hold five (the most) major titles in the table tennis history. The other player is Ma Lin. In August 2016, Zhang Jike stated his intention of competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Contents
1 Early life
2 Equipment and playing style
3 Career records
4 References
5 External links
Early life
On Feb 16, 1988, Zhang was born in Qingdao, Shandong Province to Zhang Chuanming (张传铭) and Xu Xiying (徐锡英). His father is a table-tennis coach. He was named after the Brazilian soccer player Zico.
According to his father, Zhang's first time of playing table-tennis was on March 5 1992, at age of 4.
Equipment and playing style[edit]
Zhang Jike is a Butterfly sponsored athlete. He uses Butterfly Viscaria for his blade, a Butterfly Tenergy 80 (red) on his backhand, and DHS Hurricane 3 neo National blue sponge (black) on his forehand.
Zhang Jike is a two-winged shakehand attacker, using a combination of quick topspin drive attacks, counters, and loops. He is primarily a speed-oriented player, using the harder blue sponge H3 for maximum drive. He stays very low to the ground and is exceptionally quick on his feet. Among all the Chinese National team players, he is known for having the best backhand technique, often using it in the forehand corner, especially when returning heavy under-spin serves and pushes. His backhand on-the-table flick is widely regarded as one of the best in the world.
Zhang's serves are unpredictable and quite deceptive. His most famous serve is probably the reverse-pendulum short serve into both corners of the table. The side-spin on the serve, together with his deadly backhand flicks, lightning footwork and top-class anticipation has proven to be a frightening combination as he "opens up" top spin rallies to his advantage.
It is noticeable that he would play with a backhand oriented game plan against big forehand loopers like Ma Long or Fan Zhendong. He would keep his opponents in their backhand corner and go for down-the-line blocking winners as the opposition steps around to use a forehand loop, or just simply use his superior control to pile up pressure on the opponent, resulting in bad shot selections and unforced errors.
One of Zhang Jike's most valuable asset is his mental toughness. His ability to win big points in major competitions under pressure, has amazed audiences.
In 2014, Zhang's world ranking dropped to 5th as a result of consecutive early world tour exits and title drought. Head coach Liu Guoliang criticized him for his lack of focus and techniques development. However, Zhang managed to lead his hometown team, Shandong, to the 2014 Chinese Table Tennis Super League championship, and he won the World Cup again in October. But, he declined his prize money, $45,000 USD for winning World Cup as a fine for destroying the barriers in celebration. This fund will be used to set up Fair Play Award.
In 2016, Zhang Jike defeated world No. 1 ranked and current World Champion Ma Long 4-1 in the finals match of the Kuwait Open.
Career records
Singles (as of May 1, 2015)
Olympic Games: Winner (2012); Runner-up (2016).
World Championships: Winner (2011, 13).
World Cup: Winner (2011, 14); Runner-up (2010).
Pro Tour Winner (6): China Open, Suzhou (2010); German Open (2011); Korean Open (2012), Slovenian Open (2012), Kuwait Open (2013). Runner-up (3): Qatar Open (2010); China Open, Suzhou (2011); Austrian Open (2011); Kuwait Open (2016).
Pro Tour Grand Finals: Runner-up (2011); SF (2009).
Asian Championships: Runner-up (2009, 12).
Asian Cup: Winner (2010).