Li Furong

Who is Li Furong?

Li Furong was a Chinese male table tennis player. He was a native of Zhejiang province starting to play table tennis at 15 and joined national team in 1959. Li helped the Chinese men's team win four team titles at the World Table Tennis Championships in 1961, 1963, 1965 and 1971. In men's singles competitions, he made 3 consecutive appearances at the finals of the World Championships in 1961, 1963, and 1965. However, Li lost to compatriot Zhuang Zedong in all of the three finals, making himself become one of four players who played in three finals without winning. Rumor had it that Li's losses at the finals were prearranged. The 1961 Championships was referred as the commencement of match fixing in history of Chinese table tennis.

In 1999, Li was inducted into the ITTF Hall of Fame. Li became the president of Asian Table Tennis Union in 2001. The post was succeeded by Cai Zhenhua in 2009 and Li was awarded the ATTU Honorary Life President in 2010.