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Victory over Hungary’s Janos Jakab in the early evening of Saturday 12th November 2005, at the LIEBHERR German Open in Magdeburg, secured the Under 21 Men’s Singles title for a 17 year old from Hong Kong on his ITTF World Tour debut.
Jiang Tianyi was the somewhat surprise winner of the event; nobody knew the name, nobody knew what to expect, they soon found out.
Left handed, shake-hands grip, not the most powerful player in the world but his fast attacking top spin skills had reaped rewards; a Men’s World Ranking of no.398 prior to proceedings in Germany commencing, when the listings were published for December 2004, Jiang Tianyi appeared at no.130.
More Progress
Soon after in March 2006 he broke the one hundred barrier and was named at no.87.
Now, in October 2013 he is at no.21, having reached a career high of no.14; a position he held for three consecutive months from December 2012 to earlier this year in February.
Unassuming
Quietly, in an unassuming manner and somewhat unnoticed, Jiang Tianyi made rapid progress and that is Jiang Tianyi; there are no great histrionics when he plays.
Unobtrusively, he is the pupil who sits at the back of the classroom doing his work without disrupting anyone. He does not seek attention.
Hails from Shandong Province
Born on Sunday 28th February 1988, in Qinan in Shandong Province on the east coast of China, he progressed to win the Men’s Singles title at the Brazil Open in Belo Horizonte in 2008 before forming a very successful Men’s Doubles partnership with Tang Peng.
Doubles Success
The pair won in Wels at the Austrian Open in 2010 before succeeding in Seoul at the KAL Cup ITTF World Tour Grand Finals; in fact the win in Seoul was the third Men’s Doubles title of note in 2010 for Jiang Tianyi.
Earlier in the year in July at the Egypt Open in Cairo he had clinched the top prize in partnership with Leung Chu Yan.
Notable performances but perhaps the one most worthy of note came comparatively recently.
London Olympic Games
In the Men’s Singles event at the London 2012 Olympic Games he reached the quarter-finals; he started his campaign in the third round where he beat Russia’s Alexey Smirnov before overcoming DPR Korea’s Kim Hyok Bong in the fourth round prior to losing to the champion elect, China’s Zhang Jike in the quarter-finals.
Equally, later in the year he reached the quarter-final stage at the LIEBHERR Men’s World Cup in Liverpool; where the might of Xu Xin ended progress.
Qualified Following Hong Kong Performance
Once again in Verviers he will be on duty in the prestigious annual event; it will be his second appearance in the Men’s World Cup.
He qualified by virtue of finishing in seventh place in the GAC Group Asian Cup in Hong Kong staged earlier in the year in April.
Article by: ITTF - Ian Marshall
Photo by: Donald Chin
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