Lausanne, Switzerland, November 29, 2019 - Superstar Zhu Ting, who has returned to her native China after a three-year stint in Turkey and is ready to lead her new club, Tianjin Bohai Bank, in the 2019 FIVB Club World Championship next week, celebrates her 25th birthday today.
So here's 25 things you should know about the Chinese outside hitter:
- Born on 29 November 1994 in Henan.
- Stands 1.98m tall.
- Started volleyball in 2007 at age 13.
- She joined China's youth National Team in 2010.
- In her first international outing she won a silver medal at the 2011 Girls U18 World Championship.
- She won her first MVP award at the 2012 Asian Junior Women's Championship.
- She has been captain of China's senior National Team since 2017.
- Has played for the clubs of Guangdong Evergrande (CHN), Henan Huawei (CHN), VakifBank Istanbul (TUR) and Tianjin Bohai Bank (CHN).
- Has been named Olympic Games MVP in Rio 2016.
- Has been twice named FIVB World Cup MVP in 2015 and 2019.
- Has been named FIVB World Grand Champions Cup MVP in 2017.
- Has been named FIVB U20 World Championship MVP in 2013.
- Has been twice named FIVB Club World Championships MVP in 2017 and 2018.
- Has one Olympic gold medal (Rio 2016).
- Has two FIVB World Cup gold medals (2015 and 2019).
- Has one FIVB World Grand Champions Cup gold medal (2017).
- Has one FIVB U20 World Championship gold medal (2013).
- Has two FIVB Club World Championship gold medals with VakifBank Istanbul (2017 and 2018).
- An FIVB World Championship gold still eludes her, after silver in 2014 and bronze in 2018.
- She was named an outside hitter on the Dream Teams of both her World Championship appearances.
- She will be making her fifth appearance at a Club World Championship next week.
- She has been on the podium in all four previous appearances (bronze in 2013 with Guangdong Evergrande) plus a bronze (2016) and two gold (2017, 2018) with VakifBank Istanbul.
- She has been top scorer of the Club World Championships three times (2013, 2017, 2018).
- She is a two-time European club champion, having won the Champions League with VakifBank in 2017 and 2018.
- She was named MVP of the 2017 European Champions League.