Jing Junhong, also stylized asJing Jun Hong (Chinese:井浚泓;pinyin:Jǐng Jùnhóng; born October 13, 1968), is a Chinese-bornSingaporean former professionaltable tennis player. Born inShanghai, she was a highly ranked player in China before she moved to Singapore with her husband, Singaporean table tennis playerLoy Soo Han, whom she married in 1992. She represented Singapore in sporting events starting in the 1990s, and was naturalized as a Singaporean citizen in 1994. After retiring as a player, she served as deputy head coach, then as head coach, of the women's national table tennis team, before being reassigned to leading the country's table tennis youth development program in late 2015.
Jing Junhong was born inShanghai, China on 13 October 1968, the child of a teacher and an engineer.[2][3] Jing was trained intable tennis in China after being spotted at the age of eight,[3] and by 1988 she had become the nation's third ranked women's table tennis player. That year, she met Singaporean table tennis playerLoy Soo Han, who was attending a long-term training program. Jing and Loy were married in 1992, and Jing moved to Singapore that year, with the intention of retiring from table tennis. She became a naturalized citizen of Singapore in 1994.[4][5] In 1998, she had a son, Meng Huen (Darren), who as of 2012 was also training to represent Singapore in table tennis.[3][5]
By 1992, Jing was representing Singapore at international table tennis competitions. Her first event representing Singapore was that year's Vietnam Golden Racket Championships, which she won. The following year, Jing was selected to represent Singapore at the1993 World Table Tennis Championships inGothenburg, Sweden. At the event, she beat then top ranked player and Olympic championDeng Yaping of China.[5] In 1995, Jing represented Singapore at theCommonwealth Table Tennis Championships, where she took second behind Hong Kong'sChai Po Wa, and at the1995 Southeast Asian Games. At the Southeast Asian Games, she won the singles and mixed doubles events, and came in second in the women's doubles event.[6]
Jing represented Singapore in the1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, where she competed in theWomen's singles event. She swept her group, winning all three of her matches (againstKim Hyang-Mi,Xu Jing, andPetra Cada), but exited in the round of 16 after losing to China'sQiao Hong.[2] For her Olympic performance, one of the best to that point in Singapore's history, Jing was named 1997 Sportswoman of the Year.[4][6] The following year, Jing again competed in the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, winning the single, double, and team events, and earning a second consecutive Sportswoman of the Year award. She continued collecting medals in the following years, taking a singles title at the1997 Southeast Asian Games and two doubles and a team title at the1999 Southeast Asian Games.[3]
In the2000 Summer Olympics, Jing competed in both the singles and doubles events, the latter alongsideLi Jiawei. In thesingles event, Jing again swept her group, beatingKaren Li andSofija Tepes. She then defeatedSun Jin,Lijuan Geng, andMihaela Steff to reach the semifinals, where she was defeated byLi Ju. In the bronze medal game, she lost toChen Jing.[7] In thedoubles event, Jing and Li started in the round of 16, where they were defeated byEldijana Bentsen andTamara Boroš of Croatia.[2][6] Jing again won the Sportswoman of the Year award for her Olympic performance.[6] Following the 2000 Olympics, Jing was ranked 12th in the world by theInternational Table Tennis Federation.[3]
In between the 2000 and 2004 Olympic games, Jing won medals at the2001 and2003 Southeast Asian Games, and at the2002 Commonwealth Games.[6] At the2004 Olympic Games, Jing again competed in both the singles and doubles events, reprising her partnership with Li Jiawei in the doubles. Jing and Li began thedoubles event in the round of 16, where they were defeated by South Korean teamKim Kyung-Ah andKim Bok Rae. In thesingles event, Jing began in the second round, where she defeatedSilvija Erdelji of Serbia, but was knocked out byKim Hyon-Hui of North Korea in the third round.[2] Jing retired as a player that year.[4]
Jing became the assistant coach of the Singapore women's table tennis team in 2009.[4] She was on the coaching team in the2012 Summer Olympics when Singapore won two bronze medals, an individual medal byFeng Tianwei and a team medal by Feng Tianwei,Wang Yuegu and Li Jiawei, Jing's former partner.[8]
In 2013, Jing was promoted to head coach,[4] and won the Singapore Table Tennis Association's Coach of the Year award in 2013 and 2014.[9] Under Jing's leadership, the women's team won six gold medals at the2014 Commonwealth Games, and Feng picked up victories at International Table Tennis Federation events in Japan, Australia, and the Philippines. The women's team also won three third-place medals at the2014 Asian Games.[9]
In November 2015, following a public dispute with playerYu Mengyu at the International Table Tennis Federation Polish Open and a request by Yu and Feng for a coaching change, Jing Junhong was replaced as the head coach of the women's team. Jing was instead put in charge of several of the Singapore Table Tennis Association's youth development programs, with oversight over both the programs and their coaches.[citation needed]
