Australia now has a medal chance in the Olympic table tennis with China-born Yangzi Liu cleared to represent the green and gold at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
The Age reports Liu has successfully overturned a ruling which made her ineligible to represent Australia after changing her nationality from China.
Liu is Australia’s top-ranked player and took women’s world No.1 Sun Yingsha to a decisive fifth set when they played recently.
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She reached a career-best ranking of world No.25 last year and is hopeful of claiming Australia’s first ever Olympic medal in table tennis.
Already Liu made history by winning bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, in both the singles and the women’s team event. The Commonwealth Games have less strict rules on naturalised athletes than the Olympic Games.
Table tennis has attempted to crack down on athletes defecting for better opportunities given that China dominates the sport, winning all five Olympic golds at Paris 2024. But they can only pick two players for each Games.
Liu moved to Australia aged 17 in 2019, being granted citizenship in 2022, and was facing a ban until 2029. But she successfully argued her ban should be shortened based on when she arrived in the country.
“We had this going on for almost two years, and we were not in a positive position,” Liu said.
“The ITTF really strongly disagreed with me representing Australia for the international tournaments. I just couldn’t believe we won in the end.
“At the Commonwealth Games there was one girl from Wales, and she had all her family members there and everyone had her name on their shirts.
“I was going to do that at the 2026 Commonwealth Games. But I think the plan will be (to do that) in Brisbane.
“It’s a dream to represent your country at an Olympics.”
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