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Date of Birth: May 17, 1951 Residence: San Jose Education: PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Case Western University Ethnicity: Chinese Rating: 2142 Style: Chopper Equipment: Armstrong blade with Butterfly Tackiness Chop 1.9 and Hallmark Long Pips Super Special without sponge Sponsor: None Clubs Played: Palo Alto |
Andrew began playing table-tennis in China in 1960 when table-tennis was very popular in the whole country. This was around the time when China had its first World Champion in any sport through table-tennis and would host the 26th World Table Tennis Championships in Beijing. The 1959 World Men's Singles title by Rong Guotuan sparked a table-tennis frenzy in China. Andrew started playing penhold, then changed to a defensive style requested by his coach at an amateur sports school. Andrew made rapid progress in his defensive skill and was chosen to Beijing Junior Boys Team when he was 12. It is hard to believe that after over 40 years, Andrew is still hooked to this sport and plays actively!
Andrew moved to the Bay Area in 1994 and has been playing at Palo Alto Table Tennis Club for eight years. He tried hard to teach his son to play table-tennis but his son ended up following the mainstream American path into basketball. Andrew's favorite player is, appropriately, Ding Song from China who has been one of the world's best defensive players in the nineties when he was on the Chinese National Team. Ding played a vital role in bringing home the World Championship to China in 1995 after 3 consecutive World Championships with Sweden on top. By profession, Andrew is a Senior Member of the Technical Staff at Applied Materials working on numerical modeling and simulations. He has been working there for over 10 years. Andrew likes "challenging and being challenged" and enjoys the sport and life.