Feng Tianwei

Feng Tianwei PJG (Chinese: 冯天薇; pinyin: Féng Tiānwēi, pronounced [fə̌ŋ tjɛ́nwéi]; born 31 August 1986[1]) is a Singaporean retired table tennis player.

Born in China, she permanently moved to Singapore in March 2007 at the age of 20 under the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme and commenced her international career in competitive table tennis the following month.

On 15 August 2008, the Singapore team comprising Feng and her teammates Li Jiawei and Wang Yuegu defeated South Korea 3–2 in the semifinals.

On 25 October 2016, the Singapore Table Tennis Association announced that it would not be renewing its contract with Feng, citing the need for rejuvenation of the national team.

[4] A few months after her exit from STTA, she went on to beat then world number one and Olympic gold medalist Ding Ning 3–2 in the Chinese Table Tennis Super League.

[5] On 11 October 2019, Feng defeated Chen Meng, then ranked world number one, in four straight games, causing the biggest upset in the 2019 German Open.

[7] She is the only daughter of Feng Qingzhi, a granary worker, and his wife Li Chunping, an employee of a department store.

Although Feng topped the qualifying matches a month later and was called up for the national team in 2003, she suffered from a long illness; a source close to her said it was "because she missed her father too much".

[3] In 2007, she achieved a silver medal in the singles at the ITTF Pro Tour Chinese Taipei Open, her compatriot Li beating her to take the gold.

[11] Feng was a member of the silver medal-winning team at the World Team Championships in Guangzhou in 2008 and defeated the top seed Zhang Yining from China in the Quarter-finals of the Asian Cup held in Sapporo between 29 and 30 March 2008, eventually achieving second place behind China's Guo Yue.

She contributed to Singapore's 3–2 win against South Korea in the semifinals by defeating Dang Ye-Seo and Park Mi-Young in two singles matches.

"[7] On 17 August 2008, Feng and her teammates achieved a silver medal in women's table tennis after losing to China in three matches.

[14] Feng played the starting singles match, winning the first game but eventually losing to China's Wang Nan 1–3.

"[17] At a victory celebration in Singapore on 25 August 2008, Vivian Balakrishnan, the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, announced that Feng, Li and Wang would be presented with the Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Meritorious Service Medal).

[18] On 9 September 2008, Feng beat her compatriot Wang to clinch the bronze medal at the ITTF Women's World Cup in Kuala Lumpur.

[19] Despite crashing out of the singles event earlier, Feng and her teammates Li and Wang won the top title at the ITTF Pro Tour ERKE German Open in Berlin on 22 November 2008.

[20] Feng won her first professional singles title at the Polish Open in Warsaw on 30 November 2008, in an all-Singapore final against Wang.

[23] On 23 August 2009, Feng achieved her second Pro Tour singles title at the KAL Cup Korean Open in Seoul.

She was a member of the Singapore women's team with Sun Beibei and Wang that defeated Thailand 3–0 to win Gold on 10 December 2009.

[26] The Singapore Table Tennis Association made Feng the inaugural winner of its Best Player of the Year award on 12 February 2010.

[30] She entered the women's singles competition seeded sixth,[31] and progressed until she was defeated 2–4 by China's Ding Ning in the semi-finals.

[36][37] Feng qualified for the women singles event of the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships as the fourth seed.

Feng and Yu impressively secured the joint bronze medal alongside Chinese pair Chen Meng and Zhu Yuling.

[39] Feng participated in the 2013 Women's World Cup and progressed to the semifinals, before losing out to Wu Yang of China.

On route to the final, she notably defeated China's rising star Wang Manyu, as well as teammate Yu Mengyu.

[42] Feng participated in ITTF Asian-Olympics Qualifier (South-East Asian region) at Hong Kong from 13 to 17 April 2016.

[54] According to July's Olympic Qualification Ranking published by the International Table Tennis Federation, Feng was seeded sixth in the singles event.

[57] In the team event, Feng, together with Yu Mengyu and Lin Ye, defeated 13th seeded France 3–0 in the Round of 16, progressing to the quarterfinals.

This wrapped up a 3–0 victory for China and signalled the end of Singapore's Table Tennis campaign in the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Feng in 2008
Feng at a ceremony on 25 August 2008 welcoming Team Singapore home from the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing
Corbillon cup display during victory parade in June 2010