Yangzi Liu is a table tennis player who was awarded a Tier 2 Scholarship within the 2023 Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship and Mentoring Program. She is the second table tennis player to be selected for the program.

Born in China, Yangzi’s table tennis journey began when she moved to Shanghai with her father as a 7-year-old. They thought a move to China’s biggest city would provide her with the best chance possible of pursuing a successful career in the sport.

Through a dedication to hard work and with a determination to excel, she showed great promise, competing in Chinese domestic competitions and, as a result, in 2015, she was the youngest of 60 players from all over the country invited to train with the Chinese National Team. That same year she participated in the Chinese Table Tennis League B League and led her team to promotion up to A League.

By 2016, Yangzi had become a somewhat seasoned and experienced table tennis player and was invited to train with the Korean National Team. She became a key part of their training camp leading into the Rio Olympic Games. Following that camp, in 2017, she finished high school and embarked on her professional career that took her away from home and across to Portugal where she competed in domestic leagues for two years.

Throughout the 2017/2018 season Yangzi won several titles for the Mirandela Club and finished with an almost unbeaten record, before she made her international debut in 2018 at her first junior open tournament, she was victorious in the U18 category – this performance kick-started her career.

Yangzi moved to Australia in 2019 and was chosen to represent Table Tennis Australia and became an Australian citizen in March 2022. At the end of 2019, she participated in her first competition for Australia – the 2019 Estonian Open – where she claimed both the junior and senior titles. A week later she competed at the Finnish Open where she won her final against an opponent from Japan – one of the sport’s most dominant countries.

Yangzi was lucky enough to continue training through COVID-19 affected years in 2020 and 2021 and worked with her head coach to improve the technical side of her game throughout a gruelling 18-month training block. Then, in September 2021 she went to Europe with her national coach where she won three World Junior Open titles in two weeks. These results catapulted her heights not many Australians had previously reached – a world junior ranking of No. 6.

She also performed well in the world senior tournaments and defeated many of the world’s top players on her way to winning her first career WTT title which resulted in a world senior rank of No. 62.

In May 2022, Yangzi returned to Australia and competed with the Melbourne National Team and began preparations for the Australian National Championships and 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. She won gold medals in both women’s team and singles at the Australian National Championships in July, and gold in the 21-year-old singles and mixed doubles. These results saw her rise to the No. 1 national ranking for both juniors and seniors, and she was named the 2022 Table Tennis Australia Player of the Year and Most Promising Player. Later in the year, she made her Commonwealth Games debut and led her team to a bronze medal and won Australia’s first table tennis singles medal in a major event, bronze at the Commonwealth Games.

“It’s a great honour to be chosen for this scholarship. I know there were a lot of applicants who are all exceptional in the field they represent and to be chosen for table tennis is a credit to me and the sport itself. I am so grateful for the opportunities this will give me for my training and competitions.” –  Yangzi Liu on being selected as a 2023 Tier 2 Scholarship Holder.

Honours & Achievements

• 2017: Portugal Super Cup Team – Champion
• 2017-18: Portugal Junior National Championship Team – Champion
• 2017-2018: Cup of Portugal Team – Champion
• 2017-2018: Portugal U21 National Championship – Women’s Single Champion
• 2017-2018: Portugal U21 National Championship – Team Champion
• 2017-2018: Portugal Series A Team – Champion
• 2017-2018: Portugal Junior National Championship – Women’s Single Champion
• 2017-2018: Portugal U21 National Championship – Mixed Doubles Champion
• 2017-2018: Portugal Series B Team – Champion
• 2017-2018: Portugal Junior National Championship – Mixed Doubles Champion
• 2017-2018: Portugal Junior National Championship – Women’s Single Champion
• 2017-2018: Portugal U21 National Championship – Mixed Doubles Champion
• 2017-2018: Portugal Series B Team – Champion
• 2017-2018: Portugal Junior National Championship – Mixed Doubles Champion
• 2017-2018: Portugal U21 National Championship – Women’s Doubles 1^st Runner-up
• 2017-2018: Portugal National Championship – Women’s Doubles 2^nd Runner-up
• 2017: Portugal Junior National Championship – Women’s Doubles 1^st Runner-up
• 2017: Portugal Junior Invitational Tournament – Champion
• 2018: Portugal Invitational Tournament – Champion
• 2019: ITTF Estonia Open – U18 Champion
• 2019: ITTF Estonia Open – Open Women’s Single Champion
• 2019: ITTF Finland Open – Women’s’ Sigle Champion
• 2021: WTT Feeder Düsseldorf – 1^st
• 2021: WTT Youth Contender Italy – 1^st
• 2021: WTT Youth Contender Slovakia – 1^st
• 2022: National Championships – Singles and Women’s Teams, Gold
• 2022: National Championships U21 – Singles and Mixed Doubles, Gold
• 2022: National Championships U21 – Women’s Best Player
• 2022: Victor Barna Memorial Trophy Australian Senior Player of the Year and Most Promising Player
• 2022: Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Women’s Teams – Bronze
• 2022: Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Women’s Singles – Bronze
• 2023: Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship Holder

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Bio picture credit: CGA