Yingsha Sun
Wikipedia - Sun Yingsha
Sun Yingsha (Chinese: 孙颖莎; pinyin: Sūn Yǐngshā; born 4 November 2000) is a Chinese professional table tennis player, Olympic champion, and World Champion. She is the current world No. 1 in women's singles.
Sun is the reigning Olympic gold medallist in mixed doubles with Wang Chuqin, and in the team event in both Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. She is also the reigning World Champion and World Cup Champion.
History
In January 2017, Sun entered the national table tennis team of China, only sixteen months after being selected for the B team. Sun won gold in the women's singles and mixed team with Wang Chuqin at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2019
In the 2019 World Team Cup, Sun came back from down 10–7 in the deciding fifth game to defeat Mima Ito in the finals against Japan. In an interview in 2021, Sun referred to this match as her precious match.
2021
Sun started out 2021 as number two in the world rankings. However, after China's decision to withdraw from all international events until the Tokyo Olympics, Mima Ito passed Sun for the number two position in the world rankings. In April, ITTF amended the seeding system for the Olympics such that she would be seeded above Mima Ito.
2023
On October 1, in the women's singles final of the Hangzhou Asian Games, Sun defeated Japan's Hina Hayata 4-1 to win gold. This was also Sun's third gold medal after winning both team and mixed doubles. This marked China's seventh consecutive championship in the women's singles competition at the Asian Games.
2024
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Sun won the first gold in mixed doubles for the Chinese table tennis team, as well as women's team gold and women's singles silver. At the closing ceremony of Paris 2024 Olympic games, Sun was selected to extinguish the Olympic flame as the representative of the continent of Asia, the first female to be selected for the role.