Han Ying

Han Ying (born 29 April 1983) is a female table tennis player representing Germany since 2010. A specialist in defensive chopping, a style in decline ever since the mid-1990s, she is one of a few surviving defensive players active at the ITTF World Tour level as of 2021.

Her most important achievement are the Olympic silver medal in women's team in 2016 and the fourth place in the same event in 2020. Other major awards include the second place in the 2016 World Tour Grand Finals and the fourth place in the 2020 Women's World Cup.

Childhood training
Han was born in Shenyang, Liaoning, China. In her childhood, she played as an attacker with little progress. In an effort to qualify for the top team in Shenyang, her father convinced her to switch to a defensive chopper. She plays defensively ever since.

She left China at the age of 19 as her style was losing popularity in China. According to her, the China national table tennis team only had three spots reserved for defenders. These defenders almost have no opportunity to play in international tournaments, instead, they serve as internal training partners for the Chinese attackers.

Breakthrough in Germany
Han played for the German club Turnverein Busenbach from 2002 to 2005. She transferred to another German club, MTV Tostedt, from 2005 to 2012.

She became a naturalized German citizen in 2010. She made her first breakthrough in March 2011 in the German Table Tennis Championship, the most important domestic tournament, which she claimed third in singles and she won the women doubles with Irene Ivancan. In December 2011 she won the singles in the Bundesranglistenturnier, the second most important domestic tournament.

She took a break from her career as she gave birth in October 2012. Since April 2013, she relocated to Düsseldorf and played for the Polish club KTS Tarnobrzeg.

Major competitions
Han debuted in the Olympics at the age of 33. As the fifth seed in the singles in the 2016 Olympics, she was defeated 0–4 in the quarterfinal by Ding Ning, the eventual gold medalist. In the women's team, she helped Germany to defeat Japan in the semifinal before losing to China to claim an Olympic silver medal. In the team semifinal, she lost 2–3 to Kasumi Ishikawa but she recovered to defeat Ai Fukuhara 3–2. In the team final she lost 0–3 to Li Xiaoxia.

In the 2016 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals, she claimed the second place by beating Mima Ito 4–2, Miu Hirano 4–0 and losing to Zhu Yuling 0–4.

In the 2020 ITTF Women's World Cup, she claimed the fourth place by beating Cheng I-ching 4–2, losing to Chen Meng 3–4 and losing to Mima Ito 0–4.

In the 2020 Olympics, she reached quarterfinal of the women's singles by beating Feng Tianwei 4–1 and losing to Sun Yingsha 0–4.

Personal life
Han married Yang Lei, a German table tennis player from China, in 2006. In 2012, she gave birth to her daughter. Han and her family currently reside in Düsseldorf.