ZHANG Lily

Grip
Shakehand (ITTF, 02 Aug 2016)

Style of play
Attack (ITTF, 02 Aug 2016)

General
TURNING PROFESSIONAL
She turned professional in 2019 to help her prepare for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Her first competition as a professional was the 2019 Hungarian Open in Budapest, Hungary. "Professional table tennis, wow, I never thought those three words would come to describe my life. It all still feels very surreal to me, travelling halfway across the world to pursue my dream of making the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and trying to become one of the best in the world in this sport." (joola.us, 31 Jan 2019)

EARLY DAYS
Her father worked as a professor at Stanford University in the United States of America and she often played table tennis in the faculty laundry room before she joined a table tennis club. "My dad was a professor there [Stanford]. So every time we went to do laundry, and there was a table there, I played my parents for fun. Our dining table was our ping-pong table as well. We'd have a tablecloth over it and eat lunch or dinner, then clean up, take the tablecloth off and hit the ball around. Or I'd practise my serves there." (teamusa.org, 06 Apr 2016; nbcbayarea.com, 26 Apr 2016)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
She was featured in the 2014 documentary 'Top Spin'. The film followed her and fellow US table tennis players Ariel Hsing and Michael Landers as they prepared for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. (californiagoldenblogs.com, 25 Jul 2016)

She became the first US athlete to win a medal in table tennis at the Youth Olympic Games, following her bronze in the singles event at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing. (teamusa.org, 06 Apr 2016; SportsDeskOnline, 26 Feb 2020)