15 Nov 2016

Zhang Jike is currently away from any competition these days after he decided to miss this year's Chinese Super League. Despite his absence in the arena, the Grand Slam champion still doesn't have all the idle time in the world. He appears in the local media and hopes to use his popularity and time in promoting the sport.

By Henry Chen

Zhang Jike is regarded as one of the good looking players of the Chinese Table Tennis Team. Since he won the 2011 World Championships in Paris, his following increased a lot. However, he has maintained no interest in discussing about his charm. In fact, he was very modest about it.

“There is nothing. Maybe it is just our friends in the internet who said it. I don’t really feel anything about it.” Zhang Jike said some time six years ago.

Recently, the hottest sports star in China right now guested in a local TV program. In such program he was asked how he would rank himself based on charm. He answered:

“I would not dare say I am the first. One of the top two….. One of the top two.”

Later on, Zhang Jike changed his self-assessment.

“Forget it. One of the top three. You said that there are no one with impressive results and with good looks. You also said that my looks is different from other people: the more you look the more I look handsome.”

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Zhang Jike poses for tha camera for a magazine’s photo shoot. (Photo from Sina Sports)

Zhang Jike’s self-assessment clearly showed increased self-confidence. As of now, the modest Zhang Jike has changed to a confident man who is comfortable with his own skin. After the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Zhang Jike was the hottest sports personality over Chinese internet.

Unfortunately, Zhang Jike will not be as active in the arena as his teammates in the Chinese National Team are. The Grand Slam champion is currently away from the arena. That is after he announced his absence in this season’s Chinese Super League.

During this period, Zhang Jike is definitely not wasting his time on anything. He is using his time, efforts, and appeal to promote table tennis further in China. Just recently,  Zhang Jike attended an event by Liu Guoliang in Henan.

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