Liu Song (table tennis)

Liu Song (simplified Chinese: 刘松; traditional Chinese: 劉松; pinyin: Liú Sōng) is a male table tennis player from Argentina. From 1998 to 2011 he won several medals in singles, doubles, and team events in the Latin American Table Tennis Championships.[1]

Liu Song
Full nameLiu Song
Nationality Argentina
Born12 May 1972
Guangxi, China
Height1,70 m
Weight60 kg (132 lb)
Medal record
Men's table tennis
Representing  Argentina
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 2011 Guadalajara Single
Silver medal – second place 1999 Winnipeg Single
Silver medal – second place 1999 Winnipeg Team
Silver medal – second place 2007 Rio de Janeiro Single
Silver medal – second place 2007 Rio de Janeiro Team
Silver medal – second place 2011 Guadalajara Team
Bronze medal – third place 2003 Santo Domingo Single
Bronze medal – third place 2003 Santo Domingo Doubles
Latin American Table Tennis Cup
Silver medal – second place San Jose 2012 Singles
Bronze medal – third place Rio de Janeiro 2011 Singles
Latin American Championships
Gold medal – first place 1998 Mexico City Singles
Gold medal – first place 2003 El Salvador Singles
Gold medal – first place 2004 Valvidia Doubles
Gold medal – first place 2005 Punta Del Este Doubles
Gold medal – first place 2006 Medellin Singles
Gold medal – first place 2006 Medellin Team
Gold medal – first place 2007 Guarulhos Singles
Gold medal – first place 2008 Santo Domingo Doubles
Gold medal – first place 2010 Cancun Singles
Gold medal – first place 2011 Guadalajara Doubles
Silver medal – second place 2000 Coquimbo Singles
Silver medal – second place 2000 Coquimbo Team
Silver medal – second place 2003 El Salvador Doubles
Silver medal – second place 2004 Valvidia Team
Silver medal – second place 2005 Punta Del Este Singles
Silver medal – second place 2005 Punta Del Este Team
Silver medal – second place 2006 Medellin Doubles
Silver medal – second place 2007 Guarulhos Doubles
Silver medal – second place 2007 Guarulhos Team
Silver medal – second place 2008 Santo Domingo Team
Silver medal – second place 2010 Cancun Team
Bronze medal – third place 1998 Mexico City Doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2000 Coquimbo Doubles
Bronze medal – third place 2002 Santo Domingo Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2004 Valvidia Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Santo Domingo Singles

Biography

edit

Personal life

edit

Born in Guangxi, China he started practising table tennis at the age of nine. He studied in a special school for athletes and reached eighth place in China's national ranking.[2] Between 1990 and 1994 he was a part of China's national team, and he won the national junior single's championship in 1991. In 1986 he started studying marketing in the University of Tokyo, although he dropped it after a year after deciding to go to Argentina. That's why it is said[by whom?] that Liu has three nationalities (Chinese, Argentinian and Japanese). In 1990 his family moved to Argentina, living in Floresta, a neighborhood in Buenos Aires city, where they opened a laundry. Five years later, Song followed his family. He adopted Argentinian nationality, the country that he always represented at international level, and he started training in the Centro Nacional de Alto Rendimiento Deportivo.

International career

edit

His first big accomplishment was in 1995 in Brazil's Open; in 1996 he reached the semi-finals of the US Open, in the United States. He won all the Argentinian championships between 1995 and 2001, but in 1997 he started to alternate his place of residence between Argentina and Europe to play professionally. In the season of 1997/98 he was the team's champion in Germany's second division; after that he played in Croatia, where he was the team's champion in the first division in 1999 and 2001, and he won the European Championship team's in 2000 and 2001 playing for Zagreb. Then he went to Bordeaux, France, where he lives since 2001, playing for local team SAG Cestas in France's first division.[3] Liu won the bronze medal in the 2011 Latin American Cup held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after being defeated by Brazil's Gustavo Tsuboi 4–3.[4] Almost at the end of his career, being 39 years old, he won the singles' gold medal at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, by beating Mexico's Marcos Madrid in the final.

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "ITTF_Database". Ittf.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2010. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  2. ^ "Liu Song, un relato de amor por el ping pong y la Argentina – canchallena.com". La Nación. Canchallena.lanacion.com.ar. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  3. ^ manu. "Song LIU". Sagctt.fr. Archived from the original on 31 October 2010. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  4. ^ "Success Against Traditional Rivals but Mixed Fortunes for Brazil". ITTF. 19 March 2011. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
edit