劉國棟

English

Liu Guodong was born on 29 April 1974 and is a Chinese table tennis coach, the elder brother of the celebrated player Liu Guoliang, who now serves as head coach of the Hong Kong, China men's table tennis team. He began coaching early in his career and was later appointed head coach of the Singapore table tennis team and its women's side. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics he led the Singapore women's team to the team final, where they lost to China to take silver - Singapore's second-ever Olympic medal and the defining achievement of his coaching career. In 2010 he began working for the Hong Kong Table Tennis Association, first with the women's team and later the men's squad, becoming head coach of the Hong Kong, China men's team from 2015-2016. Under his guidance Wong Chun-ting finished third at the 2016 Men's World Cup, becoming the first Hong Kong player to win a medal in the men's singles at one of table tennis's three major events (Olympics, world championships and World Cup). Working with a limited local talent pool, Liu has focused on building a competitive training system and on making good use of Hong Kong's frequent exchanges with the mainland and the wider world. He travelled with the Hong Kong delegation as a table tennis coach at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games and the Paris 2024 Olympics, serving as men's team coach in 2023.