Zhang Jike

Zhang Jike
Zhang at the 2013 World Cup
Other spellings:	张继 科
Nation:	People's Republic of China
Date of birth:	February 16, 1988
Place of birth:	Qingdao , China
Size:	178 cm
Weight:	70 kg
Playing hand:	Right handed
How to play:	Shakehand
Current world rankings :	102
Best world ranking :	1 (June – Dec. 2012)

Zhang Jike ( Chinese  張繼 科  /  张继 科 , Pinyin Zhāng Jìkē ; born February 16, 1988 in Qingdao ) is a former Chinese table tennis player . He is multiple world champion with the team and two-time individual world champion. By winning the World Cup twice in 2011 and 2014 , the Olympic Games in 2012 and the World Championships in 2011 and 2013 , he became the fourth male player to win the Grand Slam .

Career

Zhang Jike made it to the Chinese national youth team. In 2004, however, he was suspended because of a gambling scandal. In 2006 he returned. In 2008 he became the Chinese individual champion. At the 2011 World Table Tennis Championships in Rotterdam , he won the individual competition. In the final he prevailed against his compatriot Wang Hao . In the same year he managed to win the World Cup in Paris , his final opponent was again Wang Hao. This makes Zhang the first player in the new millennium and, after Jörgen Persson and Liu Guoliang, only the third player ever to win these two important titles in one year.

At the 2012 Olympic Games in London, he won the gold medal in the individual competition, again against Wang Hao. In the semifinals he prevailed against Dimitrij Ovtcharov . Also with the team he became Olympic champion after a 3-0 final victory over South Korea. In the semifinals he lost his individual against Timo Boll . After Jan-Ove Waldner , Liu Guoliang and Kong Linghui, his individual Olympic victory made him the fourth player to win a Grand Slam (gold at the Olympics, World Cup and World Cup). However, he was the first player to be the title holder in all three competitions that he won in the record time of 445 days. From June to December 2012 he also led the world rankings. In the final of the 2013 World Cup , there was another duel with Wang Hao. With a 4-2 win, Zhang Jike retained the upper hand again this time and thus defended his title.

After his 2014 World Cup victory , Zhang Jike made headlines due to broken gangs and barriers. The ITTF then cut him the US $ 45,000 prize money. Zhang Jike officially apologized to the ITTF. At the 2015 World Championships , he won gold in doubles with Xu Xin and bronze in singles. Although he lost unusually often against players from other countries compared to the other top Chinese players, he was nominated for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro . There he won silver in singles after a final defeat against Ma Long and missed the chance to be the first player to win a double career Grand Slam. With the team he was again Olympic champion. In the final of the Asian Cup, however, he lost to Xu Xin, so he did not qualify for the World Cup . He qualified for the Grand Finals at the end of the year, but Zhang Jike was unable to compete due to a foot injury. He also did not take part in the Super League in the 2016 season.

2017 was not very successful: he had to stop the Qatar Open prematurely in the second round due to a fever, at the Asian Cup he made it to the semi-finals. At the World Cup , he was eliminated in the round of 32 against Lee Sang-su . He withdrew from the China Open because of a hip injury, after which he was not present internationally for several months, so that he was temporarily no longer in the world rankings. In 2017 he did not play in the Super League either. He returned to the German Open in November, but lost to Tiago Apolónia in the first round , so that he fell back to 9th place in the world rankings. Due to the introduction of the new world ranking calculation , from which active players benefit, it was only ranked 54th in January 2018 and a few months later it was ranked 168th, lower than ever before. From May he was internationally active again and retired early in the main round of the China and Hong Kong Open after he had to complete the qualification. At the Japan Open he then surprisingly reached the final, which he lost 3: 4 against Tomokazu Harimoto after the match point was awarded , against whom he had clearly lost 4: 0 at the China Open. He had to retire from the Korea Open in July due to a back injury, after which he did not take part in any international tournaments apart from the Asia-Europe All Stars Challenge.

Overview of titles and successes

singles

• Olympic Games : Gold 2012 , Silver 2016
• World Championship : Gold 2011 , 2013 , Bronze 2015
• World Cup : Gold 2011 , 2014 , Silver 2010
• ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals: Silver 2011, Bronze 2009, 2015
• Asian Cup : silver 2009, 2011, bronze 2017
• Asian Cup: Gold 2010, Silver 2016, Bronze 2009

Double

• World Championship: Gold 2015 , Bronze 2009 , 2011
• ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals: Gold 2011
• Asian Cup: Silver 2009
• Asian Games: Gold 2010, 2014

Mixed

• World Championship: Silver 2009
• Asian Cup: Silver 2009

team

• Olympic Games: Gold 2012 , 2016
• World Championship: Gold 2010 , 2012 , 2014 , 2016
• Asian Cup: Gold 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017

Results from the ITTF database

Association	event	year	place	country	singles	Double	Mixed	team
CHN	Asian Championship	2017	Wuxi	CHN	Semifinals			1
CHN	Asian Championship	2015	Pattaya	THA	last 16			1
CHN	Asian Championship	2011	Macau	MAC	silver			1
CHN	Asian Championship	2009	Lucknow	IND	silver	silver	silver	1
CHN	Asian Cup	2016	Dubai	UAE	silver
CHN	Asian Cup	2010	Guangzhou	CHN	gold
CHN	Asian Cup	2009	Hangzhou	CHN	3rd place
CHN	Asian Games	2014	Incheon	COR		gold		1
CHN	Asian Games	2010	Guangzhou	CHN		gold	Quarter finals	1
CHN	Asian Championship (Juniors)	2004	New Delhi	IND	silver	gold	silver	1
CHN	Olympic games	2016	Rio de Janeiro	BRA	silver			1
CHN	Olympic games	2012	London	CLOSELY	gold			1
CHN	Pro tour	2018	Kitakyushu	JPN	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2016	Cheng you	CHN	Semifinals	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2016	Incheon	COR	last 32	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2016	Tokyo	JPN	Semifinals	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2016	Doha	QAT	Quarter finals	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2016	Kuwait City	KUW	gold	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2016	Berlin	GER	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2015	Stockholm	SWE	last 16	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2015	Warsaw	POLE	Semifinals	last 16
CHN	Pro tour	2015	Cheng you	CHN	last 16	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2015	Bremen	GER	silver	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2015	Kuwait City	KUW	Semifinals	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2014	Cheng you	CHN	Semifinals	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2013	Incheon	COR	last 16	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2013	catfish	AUT	Quarter finals	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2013	Berlin	GER	Quarter finals	last 16
CHN	Pro tour	2013	Kuwait City	KUW	gold	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2013	Doha	QAT	Quarter finals	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2012	Velenje	SLO	gold	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2012	Incheon City	COR	gold	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2012	Budapest	HUN	Quarter finals	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2012	Shanghai	CHN	Semifinals	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2011	Suzhou	CHN	silver	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2011	Shenzen	CHN	last 16	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2011	Vienna	AUT	silver	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2011	Dortmund	GER	gold	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2011	Dubai	UAE	Quarter finals	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2011	Doha	QAT	Semifinals	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2011	Sheffield	CLOSELY	last 32	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2011	Velenje	SVN	Semifinals	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2010	Suzhou	CHN	gold	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2010	Berlin	GER	Semifinals	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2010	Kuwait City	KUW	Semifinals	gold
CHN	Pro tour	2010	Doha	QAT	silver	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2009	Sheffield	CLOSELY	last 16	last 16
CHN	Pro tour	2009	Tianjin	CHN	Semifinals	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2009	Su Zhou	CHN	Quarter finals	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2009	Frederikshavn	THE	Semifinals	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2009	Velenje	SVN	Quarter finals	Semifinals
CHN	Pro tour	2008	Shanghai	CHN	last 16	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2008	Yokohama	JPN	last 16
CHN	Pro tour	2008	Changchun	CHN	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro tour	2008	Doha	QAT	Semifinals	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2008	Kuwait City	KUW	last 16	silver
CHN	Pro tour	2002	Kobe	JPN	last 64
CHN	Pro Tour Grand Finals	2015	Lisbon	POR	Semifinals
CHN	Pro Tour Grand Finals	2013	Dubai	UAE	Quarter finals
CHN	Pro Tour Grand Finals	2011	London	CLOSELY	silver	gold
CHN	Pro Tour Grand Finals	2009	Macau	MAC	Semifinals
CHN	World Championship	2017	Dusseldorf	GER	last 32
CHN	World Championship	2016	Kuala Lumpur	MAS				1
CHN	World Championship	2015	Suzhou	CHN	Semifinals	gold
CHN	World Championship	2014	Tokyo	JPN				1
CHN	World Championship	2013	Paris	FRA	gold
CHN	World Championship	2012	Dortmund	GER				1
CHN	World Championship	2011	Rotterdam	NED	gold	Semifinals
CHN	World Championship	2010	Moscow	RUS				1
CHN	World Championship	2009	Yokohama	JPN		Semifinals	silver
CHN	World Championship	2007	Zagreb	HRV			last 64
CHN	World cup	2014	Dusseldorf	GER	gold
CHN	World cup	2011	Paris	FRA	gold
CHN	World cup	2010	Magdeburg	GER	silver
CHN	Youth World Championship	2003	Santiago	CHI	Quarter finals	Semifinals		1
CHN	World Junior Circuit	2003	Wellington	NZL	gold
CHN	World Junior Circuit	2002	Taiyuan	CHN	Quarter finals
CHN	WTC World Team Cup	2015	Dubai	UAE				1
CHN	WTC World Team Cup	2010	Dubai	UAE				1
CHN	WTC World Team Cup	2009	Linz	AUT				1

literature

• Henry James: news from China - the secret law or mere coincidence? , Tischtennis magazine , 2007/8 p. 52
• Susanne Heuing: Demonstration of strength , (report on the 2011 World Cup) magazine tischtennis , 2011/6 pages 14–15

Web links

Commons : Zhang Jike  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Zhang Jike biography on the website of the World Table Tennis Association ittf.com (English)
• Zhang Jike Article about Zhang Jike on the website of the World Table Tennis Association ittf.com (accessed September 17, 2011)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ results.ittf.link . (accessed July 1, 2018).
2. ↑ tischtennis magazine , 2007/8 page 52
3. ↑ tischtennis magazine , 2009/12 page 22
4. ↑ Zhang Jike kicks and is punished. Süddeutsche , October 26, 2014, accessed October 26, 2014 . 
5. ↑ Press Release: Ma Long Completes Golden Grand Slam with Rio 2016 Gold. ittf.com, August 12, 2016, accessed October 31, 2016 . 
6. ↑ Foot injury forces Zhang Jike to withdraw from Grand Finals. ittf.com, December 1, 2016, accessed December 1, 2016 . 
7. ↑ Start of the season: Chinese Super League this time without Zhang Jike. mytischtennis.de, October 14, 2016, accessed on March 25, 2018 . 
8. ↑ Shock results and a key withdrawal dominate the day's headlines in Doha. ittf.com, February 25, 2017, accessed January 10, 2018 . 
9. ↑ Review Day One: Tomokazu Harimoto excels while Zhang Jike departs. ittf.com, June 22, 2017, accessed January 10, 2018 . 
10. ↑ 2017 CTTSL Guide: All You Need To Know About 2017 CTTSL. tabletennissbsbb.blogspot.de, accessed on March 25, 2018 . 
11. ↑ ITTF WORLD TOUR: Japan triumphs in Kitakyushu. tt-news.de, accessed on June 10, 2018 . 
12. ^ Prominent players perish, preliminary perils. ittf.com, July 18, 2018, accessed February 7, 2020 . 
13. ^ Gap too great, Europe salvages pride. ittf.com, August 5, 2018, accessed February 7, 2020 . 
14. ↑ Zhang Jike Results from the ITTF database on ittf.com (accessed September 17, 2011)

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Zhang is the family name here, Jike is the first name.