Li Furong (; born 1942 in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

) is a Chinese male

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

player. He was a native of

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

province starting to play table tennis at 15 and joined the national team in 1959. Li helped the Chinese men's team win four team titles at the

World Table Tennis Championships The World Table Tennis Championships are table tennis competitions sanctioned by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The World Championships have been held since 1926, biennially since 1957. Five individual events, which include men ...

in 1961, 1963, 1965 and 1971. In men's singles competitions, he made 3 consecutive appearances at the finals of the World Championships in 1961, 1963, and 1965. However, Li lost to compatriot

Zhuang Zedong Zhuang Zedong (Chuang Tse-tung; August 25, 1940 – February 10, 2013) was a Chinese table tennis player, three-time world men's singles champion and champion at numerous other table tennis events. These accomplishments lead Zhuang as one of t ...

in all of the three finals, making himself become one of four players who played in three finals without winning (together with Hungarian

Laszlo Bellak Laszlo Bellak (February 12, 1911 – September 20, 2006) was a Hungarian and American table tennis player. Table tennis career He represented Hungary 59 times in international competition. He won 21 medals at the World Championships, seven of ...

, Polish

Alojzy Ehrlich Alojzy "Alex" Ehrlich (1 January 1914 – 7 December 1992), also called "King of the Chiselers," was a Polish table tennis player, widely regarded as one of the best players in Polish history of this sport, who three times won silver in the ...

and countryman Ma Lin). Rumor had it that Li's losses at the finals were prearranged. The 1961 Championships was referred as the commencement of

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing (also known as game fixing, race fixing, throwing, rigging, hippodroming, or more generally sports fixing) is the act of playing or officiating a contest with the intention of achieving a predetermined result, v ...

in history of Chinese table tennis. In 1999, Li was inducted into the ITTF Hall of Fame. Li became the president of

Asian Table Tennis Union The Asian Table Tennis Union (ATTU) is an Asian table tennis governing body formed on May 7, 1972, and recognized by International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) in 1975. ATTU was founded by 16 member associations, currently, 44 member association ...

(ATTU) in 2001. The post was succeeded by Cai Zhenhua in 2009 and Li was awarded the ATTU Honorary Life President in 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Furong 1942 births Living people Table tennis players from Shanghai Chinese male table tennis players Vice presidents of the Chinese Olympic Committee 20th-century Chinese sportsmen