Kong Linghui
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Kong Linghui (; born October 18, 1975) is a retired Chinese
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 competed in the
1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
, as well as in the
2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...
and the
2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...
. Kong is a 76th generation descendant of
Confucius Confucius (; pinyin: ; ; ), born Kong Qiu (), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the phil ...
.


Career

In 1996, Kong won the gold medal in the men's doubles competition together with
Liu Guoliang Liu Guoliang (; born January 10, 1976) is a retired Chinese people, Chinese table tennis player. He is the first Chinese male player to achieve a career grand slam of three majors (Olympic Games, World Cup, World Championships). He is considered ...
. Four years later, he won the gold medal in the men's singles competition and the silver medal in the doubles event again together with
Liu Guoliang Liu Guoliang (; born January 10, 1976) is a retired Chinese people, Chinese table tennis player. He is the first Chinese male player to achieve a career grand slam of three majors (Olympic Games, World Cup, World Championships). He is considered ...
. This made him the third player to achieve a career grand slam of singles championship wins in three majors (Olympics, World Cup, World Championships). He is considered by many to be the most complete player of all time. In 2004, Kong was eliminated in the third round of the Men's Doubles Competition together with his new partner Wang Hao. Kong's style was believed to be modeled on the top European players of the late 1980s through to the late 1990s, namely the Swedes Jan Ove Waldner and Jörgen Persson, who won the World Championships in Dortmund in 1989 and Chiba in 1991 respectively. They utilised the shakehand grip, and played consistent good all-round games characterised by playing close to mid distance from the table, equal on both backhand and forehand sides and being strong in both attack and containing - both players have excellent receive of service techniques and solid blocking games. In China's attempt to shake the early 1990s European male dominance of the sport - where players such as Saive (Belgium), Primorac (Croatia), Gatien (France), Waldner, Persson and Appelgren (Sweden), and Rosskopf (Germany) were dominating proceedings internationally, they sent the young Kong to Sweden in an unprecedented move to learn the European style of play. He arrived back in China in 1993, and within three years, was ranked world No. 1 as of December 1995. Kong is considered one of the all-time greats of table tennis and has now taken up position as Head Coach of China's National Women's Team.


Controversy

In May 2017, Kong was sued by
Marina Bay Sands Marina Bay Sands is a integrated resort fronting Marina Bay, Singapore, Marina Bay in Singapore and a landmark of the city. At its opening in 2010, it was deemed the world's most expensive standalone casino property at Singapore dollar, S$8&nbs ...
in Singapore for failing to repay fully a sum of S$1 million, which he borrowed from the hotel's casino in February 2015, according to High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The court writ said that Kong signed a credit agreement to borrow S$1 million from the operator. He had since repaid S$545,625, but failed to offset the balance in full, leaving S$454,375 unpaid. After this event, Kong responded on
Weibo Weibo (), or Sina Weibo (), is a Chinese microblogging ( weibo) website. Launched by Sina Corporation on 14 August 2009, it is one of the biggest social media platforms in China, with over 582 million monthly active users (252 million daily ac ...
, that he was in Singapore with his parents, family and friends. He had sat and observed gambling, helped them collect some gambling chips and leave a relevant personal message at the hotel casino. The Chinese Table Tennis Association said Kong's coaching of the national women's table tennis team post was suspended, and ordered him to return from 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 Germany, as it investigates the allegations.


See also

*
List of table tennis players This list of table tennis players is alphabetically ordered by surname. The main source of the information included in this page is the official International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) database. More detailed information about their careers is ...


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kong, Linghui 1975 births Living people Olympic gold medalists for China Olympic silver medalists for China Olympic table tennis players for China Table tennis players from Harbin Table tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in table tennis Asian Games medalists in table tennis Table tennis players at the 1994 Asian Games Table tennis players at the 1998 Asian Games Table tennis players at the 2002 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for China Asian Games bronze medalists for China Medalists at the 1994 Asian Games Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games Chinese male table tennis players Chinese table tennis coaches Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics 21st-century Chinese sportsmen Descendants of Confucius 20th-century Chinese sportsmen