Deng Yaping
Wang Liqin
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Deng Yaping leads 3 of 4 categories. Our all-time ranking places Deng Yaping at #3 and Wang Liqin at #7.
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The case for Deng Yaping
Standing barely 1.50m tall and rejected early for her height, Deng Yaping became the most dominant woman the sport had seen, topping the world rankings for eight consecutive years. She won four Olympic gold medals, singles and doubles at both Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996, along with multiple World Championship singles titles and the honours to complete a career Grand Slam. Her ferocious close-to-table attack, aggressive penhold-influenced game and sheer competitive intensity redefined the women's game and made her a national icon in China. Retiring at just 24, she left as arguably the greatest female player ever, later earning degrees at Cambridge and serving in Olympic administration, a rare champion whose legacy reached far beyond the table.
The case for Wang Liqin
A towering right-hander with one of the most powerful forehand loops the game has seen, Wang Liqin won three World Championship singles titles, in 2001, 2005 and 2007, a haul matched by very few. He spent extended periods as world number one and anchored China's team through the 2000s, adding Olympic team and doubles golds. The great gap in his record is an Olympic singles title, which repeatedly eluded him, denying him the career Grand Slam despite his stature. Blending classical two-wing technique with imposing physicality, he was the dominant force between the Kong Linghui and Ma Lin generations and the Ma Long era, a three-time world champion whose peak would headline almost any other nation.