Today is October 18, and it is also the 45th birthday of Kong Linghui, the national table tennis Grand Slam star and former head coach of the women's team. Although he is not young, Kong Linghui is still unmarried and has remained single; and it has been 3 years since he left Guoping, Kong Linghui has never proposed to come out and coach again.
In the recent National Youth Team and National Youth Team coach elections, everyone did not see Kong Linghui. At present, it seems that it is difficult to see him play for the National Table Tennis in this Olympic cycle. Then can we Seeing the former "Prince of Table Tennis" return to China Table Tennis?
Kong Linghui, born in 1975, is an iconic figure in the history of the Chinese table tennis team: he won the men’s singles championship at the World Table Tennis Championships when he was only 19 years old, and created a record for the national table tennis. The Chinese men's team was the first to win this gold medal in horizontal beat, opening a new era.
In 2000, Kong Linghui defeated Waldner in the "Century War" of the table tennis world-the Sydney Olympics, and won the last world championship in the small ball era. He also became the third Grand Slam winner in the men's table tennis world. The scene of kissing the national flag has also become a classic memory in the hearts of Chinese fans.
In 2006, Kong Linghui officially retired and transformed into a women’s team coach. The following year, he commanded the young player Guo Yue (then he was only 19 years old) to win the women’s singles championship in the World Table Tennis Championships. This also became a peak of his coaching career. Yue Bian drove high and low, gradually losing his status as a leader of the new generation, and Kong Linghui was also questioned for this.
In 2012, Kong Linghui succeeded Shi Zhihao as the head coach of the national table tennis women's team. Since then, he has been in charge of Shuaiyin for 5 years until he resigned due to controversial incidents in 2017 and has remained idle until today.
In the past three years, there have been rumors about Kong Linghui’s return to the table tennis world. However, in 2019, according to Yin Xiao (former coach of the national table tennis team, former national team coach Liu Guoliang and Kong Linghui in charge of the national team) revealed that he had talked with his disciples, and Kong Linghui expressed his opinion. I wanted to be quiet and do other things, so I couldn't see him come out to coach again.
In July 2020, Kong Linghui suddenly appeared in Zhengzhou University for research and was engaged in table tennis related activities for the first time, but then he stopped. Now 67-year-old Yin Xiao is still working on the training of young national table tennis players, while 45-year-old Kong Linghui still "sees the dragon without seeing the end", which is really impressive. Although
has long passed the age of no doubt, Kong Linghui still did not talk about marriage. It is worth mentioning that Waldner, who just passed his 55th birthday not long ago, is still single. The personal lives of these two Grand Slam winners have also aroused heated discussions among fans and friends. I hope they can find their own happiness soon.
After his 45-year-old new life, can Kong Linghui give everyone new surprises in his career and life? Everything is still unpredictable, let's send blessings to him first!
