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| Human Interest | |
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Further Personal Information | |
| Residence | Belfast, NIR |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Club / Team | Marmande: Marmande, FRA |
General Interest | |
| Hobbies | Watching DVD's, shopping, internet, sleeping. (Athlete, 04 Oct 2010) |
| Memorable sporting achievement | Winning the Irish National Championships. (etta.co.uk, 24 Oct 2011) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Why this sport? | Her mother used to play. |
General Interest | |
| Hero / Idol | Wang Nan. (Athlete, 04 Oct 2010) |
| Ambitions | "It has always been my dream to play in the Olympic Games and this has given me the drive and ambition to put 110 percent into achieving this goal. Competing at the Olympics will be the pinnacle of my career." (etta.co.uk, 24 Oct 2011) |
| Awards and honours | At London 2012 she will be the first table tennis player from Northern Ireland to compete in the Olympic Games. (bbc.co.uk, 17 Oct 2011) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Name of coach | Alan Cooke |
| Training Regime | "We use the Sheffield Institute of Sport as our training base. I play two sessions of table tennis every day, but not at the weekend. We also have physical sessions." |
| When and where did you begin this sport? | She began playing when she was seven. |
International Debut | |
| Year | 2010 |
| Competing for | Northern Ireland |
| Tournament | Commonwealth Games |
| Location | Delhi |
Further Personal Information | |
| Occupation | Athlete |
| Languages | Chinese, English |
General Interest | |
| Sporting philosophy / motto | To never give up. (Athlete, 04 Oct 2010) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Coach from which country? | Northern Ireland |
General Interest | |
| Other information | CITIZENSHIP Having grown up in China, she first went to Northern Ireland in 2000 to play in a tournament, and came back the following year to coach. She made it her home and obtained British citizenship in 2008. "I came back in 2001 to coach in schools and clubs. I was also learning English. I really liked it here in Northern Ireland. It was very different from my home on mainland China. Initially the standard was not very high and there weren't that many schools involved, but after ten years we have many more people playing table tennis. Ulster hadn't won the Junior Inter Pros for some time, but within two or three years of my arrival, we began to win and that showed the progress that we were making." (culturenorthernireland.org, 21 May 2012) |