Chinese women’s table tennis team captain and Olympic gold medallist Ding Ning chats with ZARA ZHUANG about squad goals, her lack of shopping stamina and life beyond sports
“People might say I look aggressive, almost murderous, on court — I’m focused during games, and I’m passionate when I play,” Ding says. “But in private I’m more gentle, I like to eat and go out — an extrovert, definitely.”
The 27-year-old had plenty of time to indulge during a week-long jaunt to town, during which she toured Universal Studios Singapore, and dug into chilli crab and rainbow bread ice cream sandwiches like a local. The world’s top-ranked player, according to the International Table Tennis Federation, had just won her third singles’ title at the 2017 World Table Tennis Championships in Düsseldorf in June, and competed in the inaugural season of the T2 Asia-Pacific Table Tennis League at Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios in early July.
Once back at home, the 2016 Rio Olympic women’s singles gold medallist will return to her rigorous training — morning and afternoon sessions, with lunch in-between, and lights out at 10.30pm, a routine she’s kept since the age of 10, after moving from Heilongjiang to Beijing to join the table tennis team.
“At the start I didn’t think I loved table tennis, because I felt it was tiring and challenging,” she says. “But my friends reminded me, ‘Ning, you really love the sport’. I kept coming back to it in every conversation and they’d say, ‘Can’t you talk about anything else?’”
Bu hikaye Prestige Singapore dergisinin September 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Prestige Singapore dergisinin September 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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