Wang Hao (; born December 15, 1983) is a retired Chinese table tennis player and multiple-time Olympic medallist. He is the current head coach of the Chinese Men's Table Tennis Team.
Wang became the world champion in men's singles in 2009, defeating three-time World Champion Wang Liqin 4–0. Wang was also a three-time World Cup Champion in 2007, 2008 and 2010, as well as a three-time singles silver medalist at the 2004 Summer Olympics, 2008 Summer Olympics, and the 2012 Summer Olympics. He was ranked #1 on the official ITTF world rankings for 27 consecutive months from October 2007 to December 2009. In January 2010, he was surpassed by Ma Long. In April 2011, Wang reclaimed his #1 ranking. He is known to execute the Reverse Penhold Backhand (RPB) with exceptional skill.
During his career, he appeared a record twelve times in major world competition finals. In men's singles, he won the Asian Championship, Asian Cup, Asian Games, and Chinese National Games at least once.
Wang retired from the national team at the end of 2014. As of 2023, he is the head coach of the Chinese Men's Table Tennis Team.
Equipment Wang used a DHS Hurricane Hao blade (a special blade for Wang called N656) with a DHS Neo Skyline III Blue Sponge for forehand and Butterfly Sriver topsheet on Bryce sponge for his backhand.
Playing style Wang uses a penhold grip. He is representative of a new wave of penhold players, having good attacking and defensive skills off both wings of the table. The greater freedom of the wrist involved in a penhold grip allows Wang to generate large amounts of spin on the forehand side.
Compared to most pen-hold players on the professional circuit, Wang uses the reverse-side for almost all shots on the backhand side, with the small exception of balls placed very slow and short within the table during serves. This style of using the reverse-side exclusively for the backhand was considered to be improper, and when he first joined the national team most players did not think highly of him.
Personal life Wang and Yan Boya met in 2010 and they married in 2013. The same year, they had a son, Wang Ruiting. Wang Hao stated he would prefer his son to not pursue table tennis.
Achievements
1996: joined Jilin Provincial Table Tennis Team 1998: joined National Team and turned pro 1999 World Club Championships: Champion, team 1999 Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships: Champion, team; runner-up, men's singles and men's doubles 2000 World Club Championship: Runner-up, men's team 2001 Ninth National Games: Champion, men's team 2002 ITTF Pro Tour, Netherlands: Champion, men's singles; third, men's doubles 2002 ITTF Pro Tour, Egypt: Champion, men's singles; third, men's doubles 2003 47th World Table Tennis Championships: Runner-up, men's doubles : third, mixed doubles 2003 ITTF Pro Tour, Croatia: Champion, men's singles 2003 ITTF Pro Tour, China: Runner-up, men's singles and men's doubles 2003 ITTF Pro Tour, Denmark: Champion, men's doubles 2003 ITTF Pro Tour, Sweden: Champion, men's doubles 2003 Asian Table Tennis Championships: Champion, men's team and men's singles; third, men's doubles 2004 47th World Team Table Tennis Championships: Champion, men's team 2004 Olympics: Silver medal, men's singles 2004 World Cup: Third, men's singles 2004 ITTF Pro Tour, Greece: Champion, men's singles; runner-up, men's doubles 2004 ITTF Pro Tour, South Korea: Champion, men's doubles; runner-up, men's singles 2004 ITTF Pro Tour, Changchun: Champion, men's doubles; runner-up, men's singles 2005 48th World Table Tennis Championships: Champion, men's doubles 2005 Asia Cup: Champion, men's singles 2005 Asian Table Tennis Championships: Champion, men's team 2005 Qatar Open: Champion, men's doubles 2005 China Open: Runner-up, men's doubles (Harbin); Runner-up, men's singles (Shenzhen) 2005 World Cup: Runner-up, men's singles 2006 48th World Team Table Tennis Championships: Champion, men's team 2006 World Cup: Runner-up, men's singles 2006 ITTF Pro Tour, Slovenia: Champion, men's singles 2006 ITTF Pro Tour, Croatia: Champion, men's doubles 2006 ITTF Pro Tour, Qatar: Champion, men's doubles 2006 ITTF Pro Tour, Japan: Champion, men's doubles; runner-up, men's singles 2006 Asian Games: Champion, men's singles and team 2007 World Table Tennis Championships: Runner-up, men's doubles; third, men's singles 2007 World Cup: Champion, men's team and men's singles 2007 ITTF Pro Tour, Slovenia: Champion, men's singles 2007 ITTF Pro Tour, Croatia: Champion, men's doubles 2007 ITTF Pro Tour, Shenzhen: Champion, men's singles and men's doubles 2007 ITTF Pro Tour, Nanjing: Champion, men's doubles; runner-up, men's singles 2007 ITTF Pro Tour, Japan: Champion, men's singles; runner-up, men's doubles 2007 Asian Table Tennis Championships: Champion, men's team and men's singles; runner-up, men's doubles 2008 Olympics: Champion, men's team 2008 Olympics: Silver medal, men's singles 2008 World Team Table Tennis Championships: Champion, men's team 2008 World Cup: Champion, men's singles 2009 World Table Tennis Championships: Champion, men's singles and men's double with Chen Qi 2009 Eleventh National Games: Champion, men's singles and mixed doubles and men's team 2010 World Team Table Tennis Championships: Champion, men's team 2010 World Cup: Champion, men's singles 2010 Asian Games: Silver Medal, men's singles 2011 World Table Tennis Championships: Runner-up, men's singles; third, men's doubles 2011 World Cup: Runner-up, men's singles 2012 Olympics: Silver medal, men's singles 2012 Olympics: Champion, men's Team. 2013 World Table Tennis Championships: Runner-up, men's singles
See also World Table Tennis Championships
References
External links
Wang Hao at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics (archived)