Liu Guoliang elected as president of Chinese Table Tennis Association

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China's table tennis legend Liu Guoliang has been elected as president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association on Saturday in Beijing.

The 42-year-old former player and coach previously served as the association's vice-president and leader of its term transition team.

Liu started playing table tennis at the age of six, joined the national youth team in 1989 and the national team two years later.

Being excellent in the sport as both a player and a coach, Liu bagged golds at major world events including the World Championships, the World Cup and Olympic Games since 1992 till his retirement in 2002.

Liu Guoliang (2nd R) celebrates with his players after winning gold at the men's team competition during the Beijing Olympic Games, Beijing, China, August 18, 2008. /VCG Photo

One year later, Liu was appointed as head coach of the Chinese men's national team, starting a new era of the sport in China.

The team led by Liu won the men's doubles and team champion at the 2003 World Table Tennis Championships in France and took all the golds at the 2005 world championships in Shanghai.

The men's team took all the gold and silver medals at the 2007 world championships. During the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Chinese players won all the gold, silver, and bronze medals in the team's event.

They also had all-conquering performance at the biennial World Team Table Tennis Championships since 2004.

Players of Team China celebrate with their head coach Liu Guoliang (3rd R) after winning gold at the Rio Olympic Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 17, 2016. /VCG Photo

Liu began coaching both the male and female national teams in 2013.

At the Rio Olympic Games in 2016, Team China bagged all the golds and have since remained the top ranked team in the world.