Chunli Li (, born 28 February 1962) is a Chinese-born New Zealand female 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. She won a gold, silver and two bronze medals 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 ...

to cap off her long career. Li was born in

Guiping Guiping () is a county-level city in eastern Guangxi, China. It is under the administration of Guigang City, located at the confluence of the Qian River, Qian and Yu River (China), Yu rivers, which are the Xi River's primary north and south tri ...

Guigang Guigang (; Zhuang: ''Gveigangj'') is a prefecture-level city in eastern Guangxi in the People's Republic of China. Prior to 1988, it was known as Gui County or Guixian (). Geography and climate Guigang is located in eastern Guangxi. It is locate ...

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...

in 1962. She became one of the top table tennis players in China, specialising as a doubles player. Li migrated to New Zealand in 1987 and subsequently represented New Zealand until she retired in 2004 to concentrate as the national coach. She competed at four

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

and one Commonwealth Games for New Zealand. Since 2011, she came out of her "retirement" and started representing New Zealand again. Li led the New Zealand team 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 ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

In the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

, Li was appointed a

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to table tennis.

References

1962 births Living people Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for New Zealand New Zealand female table tennis players People from Guigang Olympic table tennis players of New Zealand Table tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in table tennis Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit Table tennis players from Guangxi Chinese emigrants to New Zealand Naturalised table tennis players Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games {{NewZealand-tabletennis-bio-stub