From 26th to 31st August 2025, the 29th Chinese University Table Tennis Championships (Division C Group A and Division D) concluded successfully in Zhoushan, Zhejiang. Following six days of intense competition, the East China University of Science and Technology table tennis team decisively swept all gold medals in women's events including the women's team, women's doubles, and women's singles. They also secured the silver and bronze medals in women's singles, bronze in women's doubles, and bronze in men's singles, achieving a total tally of 3 gold, 1 silver, and 3 bronze medals. Their gold medal tally placed them first among all universities in the Ding Group (Super Group) table tennis competition, demonstrating the comprehensive strength of East China University of Science and Technology's table tennis programme.
This tournament, jointly organised by the China Student Sports Federation and the Federation of University Sports of China, represents the pinnacle of university table tennis in China. It attracted over 200 elite athletes from 30 leading institutions nationwide, including Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Zhejiang University, Wuhan University, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology, who competed on the same stage.
On the women's team competition stage, the ‘gold-medal squad’ comprising Shang ZHAO, Xiaohui MA, Jiayi LIANG, Mengyan JIN and Yiduo WANG, under the guidance of coach Yuefei MA, demonstrated seamless coordination and a balanced approach to both attack and defence. They secured the championship title with an undefeated record.
In the women's doubles competition, the pairing of Shang and Xiaohui secured the gold medal through their seamless tactical coordination and consistent performance. The duo of Mengyan and Jiayi demonstrated equally formidable skill, clinching the bronze medal.
In the women's singles event, Shang, Xiaohui and Jiayi were in scintillating form, their formidable prowess enabling ECUST to sweep the gold, silver and bronze medals.
In the men's events, Tingyu fought his way through a field of formidable opponents in the singles competition, ultimately securing third place in the men's singles event and earning valuable honours for his team.
The outstanding performance of East China University of Science and Technology's table tennis team at the 2025 Chinese University Table Tennis Championships represents a significant achievement stemming from the institution's decades-long commitment to integrating physical education with academic pursuits. ECUST has consistently upheld the philosophy of ‘cultural table tennis’, establishing a distinctive talent development system spanning universities, secondary schools, and primary schools. This approach deeply integrates competitive sport with cultural education - not only focusing on the systematic enhancement of athletes' professional skills, but also comprehensively elevating their overall calibre through academic studies, social practice, and humanistic enrichment. This truly achieves ‘mutual ion between sport and education, fostering all-round development’.
In recent years, leveraging this model, the university's table tennis team has achieved consistent success in domestic and international competitions, nurturing dozens of outstanding athletes for provincial, municipal, and national teams. This has established ECUST as a benchmark case study in sports talent development within Chinese higher education. Moving forward, East China University of Science and Technology will continue to deepen its innovative practices in integrating sports and education. This will enable more outstanding students excelling in both sports and academics to flourish on the field while pursuing excellence in their studies, thereby contributing the ‘ECUST strength’ to accelerating the development of China as a powerhouse in education, sports, and talent cultivation.