Putting the topspin on teaching

Poker-faced player

Liu's table tennis journey began when she was 5 or 6 and she started playing on her family's dining table with a paddle made by her father. When she was 11, she joined the Shandong provincial team, and by 14, she had been selected for the national team.

Despite being the youngest on the team, Liu endured intense training sessions, hitting countless balls, even after exhaustion set in.

Practice alone wasn't enough. Liu approached her development with precision, focusing on her strengths and weaknesses. To boost her forehand attack, she intensified strength training. For her naturally explosive backhand, she honed her consistency and stability. Not being particularly tall, she focused on agility and quick footwork, expanding her reach across the court.

Her relentless training paid off and in 1986, she won the national women's singles title. She represented China in Europe in 1987, but after a tough loss, she faced a four-year period on the bench. Undeterred, she continued training and finally won her first World Championship in 1991.

Liu and teammate Wang Tao made history by securing China's mixed doubles title at the World Table Tennis Championships in Japan that year and defending it on two consecutive occasions, becoming the country's first pair to do so.

"The media called me the 'cold-faced assassin', saying that I never smiled," Liu says. "Looking back, it was because of the pressure. I wanted to win for my country, to claim the championship.

"Representing China on the global stage was the greatest honor of my life. Every time I think about the millions of people cheering for me, I feel empowered."

In 1996, she won silver in the women's doubles at the Atlanta Olympics and placed fourth in the singles, and then after amassing seven World Championship titles, she retired from the national team, leaving behind a legacy of perseverance and achievement.