CHENNAI: China-born Australian table tennis star, Yangzi Liu, who bagged the Female MVP Of the League in the fourth season of the Ultimate Table Tennis, is back in India for the fifth edition. One of the dominant female players, now playing for Goa Challengers, has her eyes set on the team prize. In a conversation with this daily, she spoke on the tournament, how it has helped youngsters, her journey and more. Excerpts:
On UTT season five
The last season was amazing for me and the team (Yangzi played for Chennai Lions in the fourth season) made it to the final. It was a shame that we lost the final, but my experience of the tournament, last year and this year has been good. I am thankful that they asked me to come back to play in India again. Last year, I did not lose a single match and I think, the team helped me a lot, including coaches and other teammates. It was a different tournament compared to how we usually play, so I was not that comfortable in the beginning. Everyone kept giving me confidence and that helped me navigate the season. I am really enjoying everything in this tournament.
On UTT helping youngsters
I think the young players from India are doing really well in table tennis in recent years. To be honest, I paid more attention to the women’s side and many of them are doing better. You saw the mark they made in the Olympics and even in Youth Contender fixtures they are producing good results. I too feel the role change for me a little bit, because I used to be the youngest person in the team, trying to get help. This year I have Yashaswini (Ghorpade) in my team who is younger than me. I hope I can be a good role model for her to look at.
On playing alongside Sharath & Harmeet
Sharath Kamal is an absolute legend of Indian Table Tennis. We played mixed doubles together last year and he did tell me a couple of things that improved my mixed doubles performance. I am working very well with Harmeet in this season. When we started practicing mixed doubles, initially, we didn’t feel that good, but when it came to the match it just clicked and we played well from then on.
On her personal journey
Table tennis for being started when I was about six years old. When I was younger, my father was my coach and we moved to Shanghai from our hometown to concentrate more on my table tennis and studies when I was seven. After about seven to eight years I moved overseas to start my professional career. When I came to Australia, I went to a language school for English. Our national coach did help me out to try new things there.
Her message to Archana Kamath
We have trained together in the past. I heard she is moving to the USA for education and I think it is a good move for her. She has done great things for Indian table tennis. We will miss her, but I wish her all the best.