Liu Zhansheng

Liu Zhansheng, born in Shaanxi Province (exact date unknown), was a well-known Chinese table tennis player and coach. His early life was focused on table tennis; as a youth he displayed an outstanding penhold, inverted-rubber quick-attack style and served as a main member of the school team while studying at the Zhengzhou Aviation School. After graduation from the aviation school, he went to Shenyang to continue his table tennis career and accumulated extensive competition experience.

He came from a fairly strict family background. His father was a veteran of the Red Army and once held a leadership position in the Xinxiang municipal government. His father imposed strict educational discipline on his children, placing particular emphasis on cultural education and the development of well-rounded qualities, intending to guide them toward official careers. Although the family had certain expectations for him, Liu Zhansheng’s passion for sport never diminished. Influenced by his upbringing, he once interrupted professional table tennis training during his youth, but his love of the sport and his study of technique continued.

After his father’s death in 1972, he was assigned to the Xinxiang Municipal Sports Committee and began working as a table tennis coach. By 1974 he led the Xinxiang team to win the Henan provincial championship, gradually demonstrating outstanding coaching ability. In 1980 he took his son Liu Guoliang and a group of young players to Beijing to visit world champion Zhang Li and her husband Li Zhenshi, gaining new training insights. Afterwards he subjected his sons Liu Guoliang and Liu Guodong to rigorous training, emphasizing the serve and proactive point-scoring to improve their competitive level.

On the training ground he was known for strict discipline and exacting management. Hot summers without air conditioning and cold winters without heating did not dampen his coaching dedication. Under his guidance Liu Guoliang developed from a promising youth into one of the country’s top table tennis players and later became an internationally renowned player and coach. The successes of Liu Guoliang and Liu Guodong likewise testified to his coaching skills and methods.

After retiring, Liu Zhansheng founded a table tennis training school in Xinxiang, Henan, in 1999, and in 2006 established the “Future Stars” International Table Tennis Training Base in Xiamen, serving as the head coach. He hoped to integrate sports and education, promote the development of table tennis in southern China, and cultivate more outstanding talent.

In his personal life, he married Wen Yuxiang in 1972. His wife managed the household, and the couple had two sons: the elder, Liu Guodong, became head coach of the Hong Kong men’s team; the younger, Liu Guoliang, served as the ITTF’s first vice president and as chairman of the WTT board. Liu Zhansheng kept family matters low-key and valued a balance between family and career.

Liu Zhansheng died of illness in 2011. He devoted his life to table tennis, received multiple honors, and was praised as a coach and player with exceptional coaching ability. His training style and career left a profound impact on the development of Chinese table tennis.