U.S. career
When Zhang was 7 years old,Dennis Davis,the president and head coach of the Palo Alto Table Tennis Club and the North American representative of the junior commission of International Table Tennis Federation,began training her. When she was 11,Zhang made the U.S. Cadet Team. By age 12,Zhang became the youngest player to ever make the U.S. Women's Team,and when she was 13 years old,she was the #2 ranked Junior Women's table tennis player in the United States. [15]
At the 2010 and 2011 U.S. National Championships,Zhang won the title in the junior girls' event and was the runner-up in women's singles. In 2012,she won her first national championship in women's singles,beating defending champion Ariel Hsing in 7 games. [16]
She plays for the Bay Area Blasters in Major League Table Tennis,which started in 2023,and was the first female player to top its power rankings. [17]
International career
2011 Pan American Games
Zhang participated in the 2011 Pan American Games where she played both as an individual and as part of the United States team. The US team won a bronze medal and she also won a bronze medal in women's singles. [18]
Qatar Peace and Sport Cup
On November 22,2011,Zhang and Russian player Anna Tikhomirova won the Women's Doubles title at the Qatar Peace and Sport Cup. [6]
2012 Olympics
After qualifying for the last singles position on the 2012 United States Olympic Team by beating Canada's Anqi Luo in five games in the North American Olympic Trials,Zhang went into the London Olympics as the youngest player in the table tennis competition [19] and was seeded 49th. [20] In the first round,Zhang lost in straight games to Croatian player Cornelia Molnar (11–6,11–8,11–7,11–5). [21]
The United States team play second-seeded Japan in the first round of proceedings. [22] Zhang lost to Sayaka Hirano in straight games (11–9,11–5,11–3) and teamed with Erica Wu in the doubles to lose to Kasumi Ishikawa and Ai Fukuhara,also in straight games (11–7,11–7,11–1). [23]
2012 North American Championships
On September 2,2012,Zhang won the women's singles title at the ITTF North American Championships with a victory over Erica Wu in straight games (11–8,11–3,11–7,11–9). She had previously (in 2011 and 2010) failed to achieve the title,with losses in the finals on both occasions to Canada's Mo Zhang. [24]
2012 World Junior Championships
At the 2012 ITTF World Junior Championships in Hyderabad,India,Lily Zhang reached the quarterfinals in singles and also led the USA into the quarterfinals of the team competition. [25] [26] As a result of her performance during the championships (12 wins,2 losses),Zhang broke into the top 100 of the ITTF women's world ranking for the first time in her career.
2013 U.S. Open
At the 2013 U.S. Open,Zhang won the title in the junior girls' event. In women's singles (part of the ITTF World Tour),she beat Mo Zhang to advance to the semi-final,where she lost to Elizabeta Samara in 5 games. Following this tournament,Zhang's world ranking improved to a career-high 84. [27]
2014 Youth Olympic Games
In August 2014,Lily Zhang was the first ever US athlete to win a bronze medal in the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics. In the contest for bronze,she won over Miyu Kato of Japan in six games.
2019 ITTF Women's World Cup
She came in fourth place at the 2019 ITTF Women's World Cup,losing 3–4 to Feng Tianwei. Zhang's performance included a high-profile upset over Miu Hirano. [28]
2020 ITTF Women's World Cup
At the 2020 World Cup,Zhang won with an upset over Feng Tianwei. [28]
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