|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Human Interest | |
|---|---|
General Interest | |
| Hobbies | Playing computer games. (gc2018.com, 05 Apr 2018) |
| Famous relatives | His parents are former national table tennis players and his brothers have players at international junior level. (gc2018.com, 05 Apr 2018; asiaone.com, 08 Jan 2009) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Why this sport? | He was influenced by his brothers and parents who were also table tennis players. |
| Handedness | Left |
| When and where did you begin this sport? | He started playing table tennis at the age of five. |
Further Personal Information | |
| Occupation | Athlete |
General Interest | |
| Other information | STUDY END In February 2017, a week into his undergraduate degree in business management at Singapore Management University, he ended his studies to begin a career in professional table tennis. "There was an opening as several veterans [in the Singapore national team] were stepping down. Here's my chance to be put in a lead role. I had never been given such a task but I felt that this was my time to step up and deliver." He plans to return to his studies in the future. "I've thought long and hard about it and I have no regrets. As for my studies, I can continue my studies after my playing career. These are my prime years as a table tennis player, and I want to give it a shot and see how far I can go." (straitstimes.com, 16 Aug 2017) NATIONAL SERVICE He was forced to miss the 2015 South East Asian Games in Singapore due to national service commitments. His national service stint nearly lead to him giving up the game. "I was on the path of giving up, stopping competitive table tennis. When I was doing national service, I would read news of the team playing at Commonwealth, South East Asian and Asian Games. I just felt like playing. I felt that I could still play competitively, that my career wasn't over." (todayonline.com, 20 Aug 2017; straitstimes.com, 16 Aug 2017) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Club / Team | Safra: Singapore |
Further Personal Information | |
| Higher education | Business Management - Singapore Management University: Singapore |
General Interest | |
| Memorable sporting achievement | Winning a gold medal at the 2011 South East Asian Games in Indonesia. (gc2018.com, 05 Apr 2018) |
| Most influential person in career | Singaporean table tennis player Gao Ning. (gc2018.com, 05 Apr 2018) |
| Hero / Idol | Singaporean table tennis player Gao Ning. (gc2018.com, 05 Apr 2018) |
| Ambitions | To compete at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (gc2018.com, 05 Apr 2018) |
| Awards and honours | In 2017 he received the Special Award of the Year at the Singapore Table Tennis Association [STTA] Awards. (stta.org.sg, 2017) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Name of coach | Anlin Hao [national], SGP |
Further Personal Information | |
| Languages | English, Mandarin |
General Interest | |
| Nicknames | XJ (gc2018.com, 05 Apr 2018) |