Jing Junhong, also stylized as Jing Jun Hong (; born October 13, 1968), is a Chinese-born

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

an former professional

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

player. Born in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, she was a highly ranked player in China before she moved to Singapore with her husband, Singaporean table tennis player

Loy Soo Han Loy or Loys is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name: *Loy Allen Bowlin (1909–1995), outsider artist *Loy Allen Jr. (born 1966), former NASCAR driver * Loy Hanning, Major League Baseball pitcher i ...

, whom she married in 1992. She represented Singapore in sporting events starting in the 1990s, and was naturalized as a Singaporean citizen in 1994. After retiring as a player, she served as deputy head coach, then as head coach, of the women's national table tennis team, before being reassigned to leading the country's table tennis youth development program in late 2015.

Early life

Jing Junhong was born in

, China on 13 October 1968, the child of a teacher and an engineer. Jing was trained in

in China after being spotted at the age of eight, and by 1988 she had become the nation's third ranked women's table tennis player. That year, she met Singaporean table tennis player

, who was attending a long-term training program. Jing and Loy were married in 1992, and Jing moved to Singapore that year, with the intention of retiring from table tennis. She became a naturalized citizen of Singapore in 1994. In 1998, she had a son, Meng Huen (Darren), who as of 2012 was also training to represent Singapore in table tennis.

Playing career

By 1992, Jing was representing Singapore at international table tennis competitions. Her first event representing Singapore was that year's Vietnam Golden Racket Championships, which she won. The following year, Jing was selected to represent Singapore at the

1993 World Table Tennis Championships The 1993 World Table Tennis Championships were held in Göteborg from May 11 to May 23, 1993. Results Team Individual References External linksITTF Museum {{World Table Tennis Championships World Table Tennis Championships World Table ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

, Sweden. At the event, she beat then top ranked player and Olympic champion

Deng Yaping Deng Yaping (; born February 6, 1973) is a Chinese table tennis player, who won eighteen world championships including four Olympic championships between 1989 and 1997. She is regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. ...

of China. In 1995, Jing represented Singapore at the

Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships The Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships was born at a meeting of Commonwealth delegates in Munich at the 1969 World Championships. Prior to inclusion in the Commonwealth Games proper in 2002, 15 Commonwealth Championships have taken place since ...

, where she took second behind Hong Kong's

Chai Po Wa Chai Po Wa (, born 12 April 1966) or Qi Baohua is a table tennis player from Hong Kong. From 1989 to 1997 she won several medals in singles, doubles, and team events in the Asian Table Tennis Championships and in the World Table Tennis Champions ...

, and at the 1995 Southeast Asian Games. At the Southeast Asian Games, she won the singles and mixed doubles events, and came in second in the women's doubles event. Jing represented Singapore 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, ...

in Atlanta, where she competed in the Women's singles event. She swept her group, winning all three of her matches (against Kim Hyang-Mi, Xu Jing, and Petra Cada), but exited in the round of 16 after losing to China's

Qiao Hong Qiao Hong (; born November 21, 1968 in Wuhan, Hubei) is a former female Chinese table tennis player. She is now the coach of the women's national table tennis team and a member of the Chinese Olympic Committee. Table tennis career She won four ...

. For her Olympic performance, one of the best to that point in Singapore's history, Jing was named 1997 Sportswoman of the Year. The following year, Jing again competed in the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, winning the single, double, and team events, and earning a second consecutive Sportswoman of the Year award. She continued collecting medals in the following years, taking a singles title at the 1997 Southeast Asian Games and two doubles and a team title at the 1999 Southeast Asian Games. In the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

, Jing competed in both the singles and doubles events, the latter alongside

Li Jiawei Li Jiawei (; born 9 August 1981) is a retired Chinese-born former Singaporean table tennis player, four-time Olympian and twice Olympic medalist. She trained in Beijing's famous Shichahai Sports School with Olympic medalist Zhang Yining. In ...

. In the

singles event A singles event is an activity or program made available specifically to the romantically unattached, often with the underlying or explicit purpose of fostering dating or relationships among attendees. A singles event with a cocktail party-type a ...

, Jing again swept her group, beating Karen Li and Sofija Tepes. She then defeated Sun Jin, Lijuan Geng, and Mihaela Steff to reach the semifinals, where she was defeated by Li Ju. In the bronze medal game, she lost to Chen Jing. In the doubles event, Jing and Li started in the round of 16, where they were defeated by Eldijana Bentsen and Tamara Boroš of Croatia. Jing again won the Sportswoman of the Year award for her Olympic performance. Following the 2000 Olympics, Jing was ranked 12th in the world by the

International Table Tennis Federation The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is the governing body for all national table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the p ...

. In between the 2000 and 2004 Olympic games, Jing won medals at the

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

and 2003 Southeast Asian Games, and at the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

. At the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, Jing again competed in both the singles and doubles events, reprising her partnership with Li Jiawei in the doubles. Jing and Li began the doubles event in the round of 16, where they were defeated by South Korean team Kim Kyung-Ah and Kim Bok Rae. In the

, Jing began in the second round, where she defeated Silvija Erdelji of Serbia, but was knocked out by

Kim Hyon-Hui Kim Hyon-hui ( ko, 김현희, born 27 January 1962), also known as Ok Hwa, is a North Korean former agent, responsible for the Korean Air Flight 858 bombing in 1987, which killed 115 people. She was arrested in Bahrain following the bombing a ...

of North Korea in the third round. Jing retired as a player that year.

Coaching career

Jing became the assistant coach of the Singapore women's table tennis team in 2009. She was on the coaching team in the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

when Singapore won two bronze medals, an individual medal by

Feng Tianwei Feng Tianwei (, ) is a Singaporean table tennis player. Born in Harbin, China, she permanently moved to Singapore at the age of 20 under the former Foreign Sports Talent Scheme in March 2007 and commenced her international career in competit ...

and a team medal by Feng Tianwei,

Wang Yuegu Wang Yuegu (, ; born 10 June 1980) is a retired Chinese-born Singaporean table tennis player who was ranked among the top ten players in the world. Wang made her inaugural appearance as a Singaporean table tennis player on the International Tab ...

and Li Jiawei, Jing's former partner. In 2013, Jing was promoted to head coach, and won the Singapore Table Tennis Association's Coach of the Year award in 2013 and 2014. Under Jing's leadership, the women's team won six gold medals at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

, and Feng picked up victories at International Table Tennis Federation events in Japan, Australia, and the Philippines. The women's team also won three third-place medals at the

2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games ( ko, 2014년 아시아 경기대회/2014년 아시안 게임, Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asia gyeonggi daehoe/Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asian Geim), officially known as the 17th Asian Games ( ko, 제17회 아시아 경기대회/제17회 ...

. In November 2015, following a public dispute with player

Yu Mengyu Yu Mengyu (; born 18 August 1989) is a retired Chinese-born Singaporean table tennis player. Born in Liaoning, China, Yu left China in 2006 at the age of 17 to join the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA). She was part of the team that ...

at the International Table Tennis Federation Polish Open and a request by Yu and Feng for a coaching change, Jing Junhong was replaced as the head coach of the women's team. Jing was instead put in charge of several of the Singapore Table Tennis Association's youth development programs, with oversight over both the programs and their coaches.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jing, Junhong 1968 births Living people Table tennis players from Shanghai Chinese emigrants to Singapore Singaporean sportspeople of Chinese descent Naturalised citizens of Singapore Naturalised table tennis players Chinese female table tennis players Singaporean female table tennis players Olympic table tennis players of Singapore Table tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Asian Games medalists in table tennis Table tennis players at the 2002 Asian Games Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games Asian Games bronze medalists for Singapore Olympic coaches Chinese table tennis coaches Commonwealth Games medallists in table tennis Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Singapore Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Singapore Southeast Asian Games gold medalists for Singapore Southeast Asian Games medalists in table tennis Table tennis players at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Competitors at the 1995 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 1997 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 1999 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 2001 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 2003 Southeast Asian Games