Fan Zhendong facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Fan Zhendong
Personal information
Native name	樊振东
Nickname(s)	"Xiao Pang" (Little Fatty)
Born	(1997-01-22) 22 January 1997 (age 28) Guangzhou, China
Playing style	Right-handed, shakehand grip
Equipment(s)	Butterfly Fan Zhendong ALC with DHS Hurricane 3 National (Blue Sponge) (FH, Black), Butterfly Dignics 09c (BH, Red)
Highest ranking	1 (April 2018)
Current ranking	2 (18 August 2024)
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	77 kg (170 lb)
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 3 1 0 World Championships 9 2 2 World Cup / Cup Finals 9 2 0 Men's table tennis Representing  China Olympic Games Gold 2020 Tokyo Team Gold 2024 Paris Singles Gold 2024 Paris Team Silver 2020 Tokyo Singles World Championships Gold 2014 Tokyo Team Gold 2016 Kuala Lumpur Team Gold 2017 Düsseldorf Doubles Gold 2018 Halmstad Team Gold 2021 Houston Singles Gold 2022 Chengdu Team Gold 2023 Durban Singles Gold 2023 Durban Doubles Gold 2024 Busan Team Silver 2015 Suzhou Doubles Silver 2017 Düsseldorf Singles Bronze 2015 Suzhou Singles Bronze 2019 Budapest Mixed doubles World Cup Gold 2015 Dubai Team Gold 2016 Saarbrücken Singles Gold 2018 London Team Gold 2018 Paris Singles Gold 2019 Tokyo Team Gold 2019 Chengdu Singles Gold 2020 Weihai Singles Gold 2023 Chengdu Mixed team Silver 2015 Halmstad Singles WTT Cup Finals Gold 2021 Singapore Singles Silver 2023 Doha Singles ITTF World Tour Grand Finals Gold 2017 Astana Singles Gold 2019 Zhengzhou Singles Gold 2019 Zhengzhou Doubles Silver 2015 Lisbon Singles Silver 2016 Doha Singles Bronze 2013 Dubai Singles Military World Games Gold 2019 Wuhan Team Gold 2019 Wuhan Singles Gold 2019 Wuhan Doubles Gold 2019 Wuhan Mixed doubles Asian Games Gold 2014 Incheon Team Gold 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Singles Gold 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Team Gold 2022 Hangzhou Doubles Gold 2022 Hangzhou Team Silver 2014 Incheon Singles Silver 2014 Incheon Doubles Silver 2022 Hangzhou Singles Asian Championships Gold 2013 Busan Team Gold 2015 Pattaya Team Gold 2015 Pattaya Singles Gold 2015 Pattaya Doubles Gold 2015 Pattaya Mixed doubles Gold 2017 Wuxi Team Gold 2017 Wuxi Singles Gold 2017 Wuxi Doubles Gold 2019 Yogyakarta Team Gold 2023 Pyeongchang Doubles Gold 2023 Pyeongchang Team Silver 2019 Yogyakarta Doubles Silver 2023 Pyeongchang Singles Bronze 2013 Busan Mixed doubles Bronze 2019 Yogyakarta Singles Asian Cup Gold 2018 Yokohama Singles Gold 2019 Yokohama Singles Silver 2014 Wuhan Singles Silver 2015 Jaipur Singles Silver 2017 Ahmedabad Singles East Asian Games Gold 2013 Tianjin Singles Gold 2013 Tianjin Team Silver 2013 Tianjin Doubles Youth Olympic Games Gold 2014 Nanjing Singles Gold 2014 Nanjing Mixed team World Junior Championships Gold 2012 Hyderabad Singles Gold 2012 Hyderabad Mixed doubles Gold 2012 Hyderabad Team Silver 2012 Hyderabad Doubles Asian Youth Games Gold 2013 Nanjing Singles Asian Junior Championships Gold 2012 Jiangyin Singles Gold 2012 Jiangyin Doubles Gold 2012 Jiangyin Team

Fan Zhendong (Chinese: 樊振东; pinyin: Fán Zhèndōng, pronounced [fǎn ʈʂə̂ntʊ́ŋ]; born 22 January 1997) is a Chinese professional table tennis player. After joining the Chinese national table tennis team in 2012 as the youngest member, he went on to become the youngest ITTF World Tour Champion and the youngest World Table Tennis Champion. From December 2013 to December 2024, Fan was ranked top five in the world according to the ITTF -- this eleven year streak is the longest in men's singles history.

Fan is the reigning Olympic gold medallist in men's singles, with his victory at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris making him the 6th male player (and 11th player overall) to achieve a Grand Slam. He is also a two-time team event gold medallist, as well as a two-time World Champion and four-time World Cup champion in men's singles.

Fan's attacking style of play involves explosive footwork and powerful loops on both forehand and backhand wings. His thick-set build has led fans and commentators to affectionately refer to him as "Little Fatty" (Chinese: 小胖, meaning "chubby boy"; pinyin: Xiǎo Pàng). His continuous rise to becoming one of the top table tennis players in the world has garnered him a large fanbase worldwide, with over half a million followers on Chinese social media site Weibo. In 2016, he won the ITTF Star Point Award, and he was nominated for the Best Male Star Award every year between 2013 and 2016.

Fan studied at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Playing style and equipment

A right-handed shakehand-grip player, Fan plays an attacking style of table tennis using his explosive footwork and thunderous and well placed loops to finish off his opponents. Emerging as a 16-year-old wunderkind, Fan's playing style is often compared to his senior compatriot Ma Long. In addition to being trained by national team coaches, he has been specially trained by both Wang Hao and Ma Lin. His encounters against senior players in the Chinese national team have drawn much speculation and anticipation. His fearlessness and technique allow him to challenge highly rated, experienced players, sometimes even beating top players in thrilling style.

Fan raises his elbow higher on his strokes compared to some of his contemporaries such as Ma Long and Xu Xin, resulting in a stronger backhand-forehand transition game at the expense of a more vulnerable middle. In 2021, Timo Boll stated that he felt that he and Fan played a similar style except that Fan was better. Boll did not elaborate further.

Fan was a Stiga sponsored athlete. However, he changed to Butterfly Fan Zhendong ALC, he uses a black DHS Hurricane 3 neo National Blue Sponge for forehand and a Red Tenergy 05 for backhand. During the 2019 world table tennis championships, he changed to the new Butterfly Dignics 05 on his backhand that had just been released on 1 April 2019. Butterfly announced its signing of Fan Zhendong on 1 November 2021.

Career

2013

On 3 January 2013, the Chinese table tennis team went straight to Paris for the first time

Fan In the first stage of the competition, Fan who was only 16 years old, defeated many famous players and won an unexpected second place, thus becoming the biggest dark horse. From 15 to 19 January, in the second stage of the Chinese men's table tennis selection that went directly to Paris, Fan Zhendong finally achieved eighth place.

2014

On 22 March, in the men's singles final of the Asian Cup Table Tennis Tournament, he lost to Ma Long 3:4 and placed runner-up.

On 5 May, the 52nd Team World Table Tennis Championships kicked off the men's team finals in Tokyo, Japan. In the end, the Chinese team defeated its opponent with a big score of 3-1 and won the men's team championship of this World Table Tennis Championships. Fan Zhendong also became the world champion by virtue of this competition, and won the world championship at the age of 17 years and 103 days, surpassing Ma Long, who won the world championship at the age of 17 years and 8 months; becoming the youngest world champion in the history of men's table tennis.

2015

In January, he won the Dubai World Cup men's team championship with Zhang Jike, Ma Long, Xu Xin and Fang Bo. On 28 July 2015, in the 13th round of the Table Tennis Super League men's competition, 18-year-old Fan Zhendong of the Bayi Team won another victory this round. So far, his personal winning rate is still 100%. Winning 24 games, Fan Zhendong broke the Super League record of 23 games won by Ma Long in 2012.

2016

In June, Fan Zhendong won the men's singles championship at the ITTF World Tour Japan Open. It is worth mentioning that in the quarter-finals with French player Simon Gauzy, Fan Zhendong hit a "magic save". This "magic save" not only made Fan Zhendong's popularity soar, but also won the ITTF Star Awards title of "Star Point of the Year".

2017

On 8 March, in the final round of the World Table Tennis Championships in Dusseldorf held in Shenzhen, Fan Zhendong defeated Xu Xin 2-0, ranking first with 9 wins and 2 losses, and won the first Dusseldorf title. On 12 April, he won the men's team championship at the Asian Table Tennis Championships.

2018

In the early morning of 22 January 2018, the Hungarian Open, the first ITTF tournament in 2018, decided on four championships, all of which were won by China Table Tennis Federation. Fan Zhendong defeated another Chinese player Wang Chuqin 4-1 in the men's singles final and won the championship.

2019

On 3 March 2019, Fan Zhendong won all 11 matches in the 2019 Direct Tournament and received the qualification for singles participation as the first seed in the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships, held in Budapest. Fan was knocked out in the fourth round by compatriot Liang Jingkun.

2020

On 15 November 2020, he defeated Ma Long 4-3 in the men's singles final of the 2020 Men's Table Tennis World Cup and won the championship for the fourth time. On 22 November, in the men's singles final of the 2020 ITTF Finals, Fan Zhendong lost to Ma Long 1-4 and won the runner-up.

2021

In May, Fan played in the Chinese Olympic Scrimmages. He won all his group matches 3–0 and defeated 16-year-old break-out star Lin Shidong, who defeated Xu Xin in the group stage, 4–2 in the quarter-finals. Because of Lin's similarity to Fan, he received the nickname "Little Little Fatty" by Chinese netizens. Fan defeated Wang Chuqin in the semi-finals, but lost to the dark horse champion Zhou Qihao in the finals. Fan was selected alongside Ma Long to represent China in the men's singles event at the Tokyo Olympics. Fan won the second leg of the Chinese Olympic Scrimmage, coming back from down 8–4 and 3–1 in games to defeat Xu Xin in the finals. Fan noted that his selection onto the Olympic team helped him focus better on his training and play better in the second leg compared to the first leg. Zhou again upset Fan in a closed-door scrimmage in June.

Although Ma Long called Fan the favorite before their Olympic finals match-up, Ma ended up upsetting Fan 4-2 in the Olympic finals, giving Ma the gold medal and Fan the silver. Despite the loss, Fan Zhendong still showed class, acknowledging Ma Long's control of the match and recognizing his own missed opportunities. When asked about Ma Long's place in history, Fan acknowledged that he is the greatest in their generation.

In September, Fan saved six match points to beat Ma Long in the fifth in the finals of the team event at the China National Games. Fan's win over Ma delivered Team Guangdong the gold medal. Fan Zhendong also won the gold in the men's singles event.

2023

Fan won five titles in 2023, including double gold at both the Singapore Smash and the 2023 World Table Tennis Championships, where he won the men's singles and doubles competition in both events. Fan won the ITTF "Male Player of the Year" award later that year, with an impressive 81% singles winning rate and reaching seven finals.

2024

Fan Zhendong beat Sweden’s Truls Möregårdh 4-1 to win his first individual Olympic gold medal at Paris 2024 on Sunday, 4 August.

His victory marked Fan's completion of a career Grand slam, having now secured singles titles in the World Championships, World Cup, and Olympics. He becomes the sixth man to achieve this feat after Kong Linghui, Liu Guoliang, Zhang Jike, Ma Long and Jan-Ove Waldner.

On August 9, in the table tennis men's team gold medal match, Fan Zhendong's Chinese team won the men's team gold medal at the Paris Olympics with a 3-0 (3-2, 3-2, 3-2) win over Sweden.

Achievements

Performance timeline

(W) won; (F) finalist; (SF) semi-finalist; (QF) quarter-finalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1
(S) singles event; (MD) men's doubles event; (XD) mixed doubles event; (T) team event

Finals

Men's singles

Result	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Ref
Winner	2013	East Asian Games	Yan An	3–0
Winner	2013	ITTF World Tour, Polish Open	Zhou Yu	4–2
Winner	2013	ITTF World Tour, German Open	Dimitrij Ovtcharov	4–1
Runner-up	2013	ITTF World Tour, Swedish Open	Yan An	2–4
Winner	2014	ITTF World Tour, Kuwait Open	Yan An	4–1
Runner-up	2014	Asian Cup	Ma Long	3–4
Runner-up	2014	Asian Games	Xu Xin	2–4
Winner	2014	ITTF World Tour, Swedish Open	Fang Bo	4–2
Runner-up	2015	Asian Cup	Xu Xin	3–4
Winner	2015	Asian Championships	Xu Xin	4–3
Runner-up	2015	World Cup	Ma Long	0–4
Winner	2015	ITTF World Tour, Polish Open	Stefan Fegerl	4–3
Winner	2015	ITTF World Tour, Swedish Open	Xu Xin	4–2
Runner-up	2015	ITTF World Tour Grand Finals	Ma Long	3–4
Runner-up	2016	ITTF World Tour, Qatar Open	Ma Long	1–4
Runner-up	2016	ITTF Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament	Ma Long	1–4
Winner	2016	ITTF World Tour, Japan Open	Xu Xin	4–1
Winner	2016	ITTF World Tour, China Open	Ma Long	4–0
Winner	2016	World Cup	Xu Xin	4–1
Runner-up	2016	ITTF World Tour Grand Finals	Ma Long	2–4
Runner-up	2017	ITTF World Tour, Qatar Open	Ma Long	2–4
Winner	2017	Asian Championships	Jeong Sang-eun	3–0
Runner-up	2017	World Championships	Ma Long	3–4
Runner-up	2017	ITTF World Tour, Japan Open	Ma Long	1–4
Runner-up	2017	Asian Cup	Lin Gaoyuan	2–4
Runner-up	2017	ITTF World Tour, Swedish Open	Xu Xin	1–4
Winner	2017	ITTF World Tour Grand Finals	Dimitrij Ovtcharov	4–0
Winner	2018	ITTF World Tour, Hungarian Open	Wang Chuqin	4–1
Winner	2018	ITTF World Tour, Qatar Open	Hugo Calderano	4–0
Winner	2018	Asian Cup	Lin Gaoyuan	4–0
Runner-up	2018	ITTF World Tour, China Open	Ma Long	1–4
Winner	2018	Asian Games	Lin Gaoyuan	4–2
Winner	2018	World Cup	Timo Boll	4–1
Winner	2018	ITTF World Tour, Swedish Open	Xu Xin	4–1
Winner	2019	Asian Cup	Ma Long	4–2
Runner-up	2019	T2 Diamond Malaysia	Lin Yun-ju	1–4
Winner	2019	ITTF World Tour Platinum, German Open	Xu Xin	4–1
Winner	2019	ITTF World Tour Platinum, Austrian Open	Zhao Zihao	4–0
Winner	2019	World Cup	Tomokazu Harimoto	4–2
Winner	2019	ITTF World Tour Grand Finals	Ma Long	4–1
Winner	2020	ITTF World Tour Platinum, Qatar Open	Liam Pitchford	4–2
Winner	2020	World Cup	Ma Long	4–3
Runner-up	2020	ITTF Finals	Ma Long	1–4
Runner-up	2021	Olympic Games	Ma Long	2–4
Winner	2021	World Championships	Truls Möregårdh	4–0
Winner	2021	WTT Cup Finals	Tomokazu Harimoto	4–1
Winner	2022	WTT Singapore Smash	Ma Long	4–3
Runner-up	2022	WTT Champions Macao	Wang Chuqin	3–4
Winner	2023	WTT Singapore Smash	Ma Long	4–1
Winner	2023	WTT Champions Xinxiang	Liang Jingkun	4–1
Winner	2023	World Championships	Wang Chuqin	4–2
Runner-up	2023	WTT Contender Zagreb	Lin Gaoyuan	3–4
Winner	2023	WTT Star Contender Ljubljana	Wang Chuqin	4–3
Runner-up	2023	Asian Championships	Ma Long	2–3
Runner-up	2023	Asian Games	Wang Chuqin	3–4
Runner-up	2024	WTT Finals	Wang Chuqin	0–4
Winner	2024	WTT Champions Chongqing	Wang Chuqin	4–3
Winner	2024	Olympic Games	Truls Möregårdh	4–1

Men's doubles

Result	Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponents	Score	Ref
Winner	2014	ITTF World Tour, China Open	Ma Long	Xu Xin / Zhang Jike	3–2
Runner-up	2014	Asian Games	Xu Xin	Ma Long / Zhang Jike	0–4
Runner-up	2014	ITTF World Tour, Swedish Open	Xu Xin	Wang Hao / Yan An	2–3
Runner-up	2015	World Championships	Zhou Yu	Xu Xin / Zhang Jike	2–4
Runner-up	2015	ITTF World Tour, Japan Open	Shang Kun	Ma Long / Xu Xin	2–3
Winner	2015	ITTF World Tour, China Open	Xu Xin	Fang Bo / Zhu Linfeng	3–2
Winner	2015	Asian Championships	Xu Xin	Jeoung Young-sik / Lee Sang-su	4–0
Runner-up	2015	ITTF World Tour, Swedish Open	Zhang Jike	Fang Bo / Xu Xin	1–3
Winner	2016	ITTF World Tour, Qatar Open	Zhang Jike	Koki Niwa / Maharu Yoshimura	3–0
Runner-up	2016	ITTF World Tour, China Open	Xu Xin	Ma Long / Zhang Jike	2–3
Winner	2017	Asian Championships	Lin Gaoyuan	Fang Bo / Zhou Yu	3–1
Winner	2017	World Championships	Xu Xin	Masataka Morizono / Yuya Oshima	4–1
Winner	2017	ITTF World Tour, Swedish Open	Xu Xin	Ho Kwan-kit / Wong Chun-ting	3–1
Winner	2018	ITTF World Tour, Hungarian Open	Yu Ziyang	Pavel Platonov / Vladimir Samsonov	3–0
Winner	2018	ITTF World Tour, Qatar Open	Xu Xin	Jun Mizutani / Yuya Oshima	3–1
Winner	2018	ITTF World Tour, China Open	Lin Gaoyuan	Ovidiu Ionescu / Álvaro Robles	3–0
Runner-up	2019	ITTF World Tour, Hungarian Open	Lin Gaoyuan	Liang Jingkun / Xu Xin	2–3
Winner	2019	ITTF World Tour Platinum, Japan Open	Xu Xin	Benedikt Duda / Dang Qiu	3–0
Winner	2019	ITTF World Tour, Korea Open	Xu Xin	Jeoung Young-sik / Lee Sang-su	3–0
Runner-up	2019	Asian Championships	Xu Xin	Liang Jingkun / Lin Gaoyuan	1–3
Winner	2019	ITTF World Tour, Swedish Open	Xu Xin	Liang Jingkun / Lin Gaoyuan	3–2
Winner	2019	ITTF World Tour Grand Finals	Xu Xin	Liao Cheng-ting / Lin Yun-ju	3–1
Winner	2022	WTT Singapore Smash	Wang Chuqin	Yukiya Uda / Shunsuke Togami	3–1
Winner	2023	WTT Singapore Smash	Wang Chuqin	Jang Woo-jin / Lim Jong-hoon	3–1
Winner	2023	World Championships	Wang Chuqin	Jang Woo-jin / Lim Jong-hoon	3–0
Winner	2023	Asian Championships	Lin Gaoyuan	Ma Long / Wang Chuqin	3–2
Winner	2023	Asian Games	Wang Chuqin	Jang Woo-jin / Lim Jong-hoon	4–0
Runner-up	2024	WTT Singapore Smash	Wang Chuqin	Lin Gaoyuan / Ma Long	2–3

Mixed doubles

Result	Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponents	Score	Ref
Winner	2015	Asian Championships	Chen Meng	Yang Zi / Yu Mengyu	4–0

See also

In Spanish: Fan Zhendong para niños

• List of Youth Olympic Games gold medalists who won Olympic gold medals