Zhang Changning

Zhang Changning
Zhang Changning
	Zhang in 2017
Personal information
Nickname	Baby Face (宝宝)
Nationality	Chinese
Born	6 November 1995 (age 28); Changzhou, Jiangsu
Hometown	Nanjing, Jiangsu
Height	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)
Weight	80 kg (176 lb)
Spike	325 cm (128 in)
Block	315 cm (124 in)
Volleyball information
Position	Outside Spiker; Opposite Spiker
Current club	Jiangsu Zenith Steel
Number	9
Career
2014–	Jiangsu Zenith Steel
National team
2014–2021, 2024	China
Honours
Volleyball
Olympic Games
World Championship
FIVB World Cup
World Grand Champions Cup
Asian Games
Asian Championship
AVC Cup Championship

Zhang Changning (simplified Chinese: 张常宁; traditional Chinese: 張常寧; pinyin: Zhāng Chángníng; born 6 November 1995) is a Chinese indoor volleyball and beach volleyball player.^[1] She is a member of China women's national volleyball team. At the club level, she plays for Jiangsu Zenith Steel.

Personal life

She was born in Changzhou and raised in Nanjing. She is the daughter of Zhang Yousheng, a former player of China men's national volleyball team, and Jiang Hanqiu, a college physical education teacher. Her elder brother Zhang Chen is a current player of China men's national volleyball team. Along with her Jiangsu teammates Hui Ruoqi and Gong Xiangyu, she attended Nanjing Normal University. She married basketball player, Wu Guanxi, on 30 July 2022.^[2]

Beach volleyball

Although she started as an indoor player, she was offered to join the national beach volleyball team in 2009. As a beach volleyball player she teamed with Ji Linjun in 2009, and with Ma Yuanyuan in 2010 and 2011 winning the silver medal at the 2011 Asian Beach Volleyball Championship. Later in 2011 she competed with Ding Jingjing at the Visa FIVB Beach Volleyball International.

2013 ban

In early 2013 she decided to switch from beach volleyball to indoor volleyball. She was pressured by national and provincial volleyball bureaus to reconsider her decision. Refusing to return to beach volleyball, she was banned from competition and faced a possible early retirement from her athletic career.^[3] Due to massive backlash from provincial media, and because of the Jiangsu team's historically low performance in the 2013-2014 season, the ban was lifted on December 29, 2013 and she has since been playing for Jiangsu in the CVL.^[4]

Indoor volleyball

In 2014, she was promoted by Coach Lang Ping to the national team. She represented China at the 2014 Asian Games.^[5] She was part of the Team China that won gold at the 2015 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup. She represented China at the 2016 Summer Olympics playing as an outside hitter and an opposite hitter and won the gold medal. She participated at the 2019 Montreux Volley Masters,^[6]

She was voted CVL's MVP and Most Popular Player in the 2015-2016 season.^[7]

References

^ "Team Roster – China". FIVB.org. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
^ "Yao Ming: "Keep Your Children in Basketball, not Volleyball"". TheNanjinger.com. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
^ "遭"封杀"张常宁首开口 "一定要打室内排球"".
^ "张常宁排球生涯三道关口曾疑因选择遭封杀".
^ "女排输球仍有一收获亚运帮郎平锻炼了张常宁".
^ "Team Roster - China - Montreux Volley Masters 2019". 2019-05-16. Archived from the original on 2019-05-16.
^ "张常宁当选女排联赛最受欢迎运动员".

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[1] "Team Roster – China". FIVB.org. Retrieved 16 February 2016.

[2] "Yao Ming: "Keep Your Children in Basketball, not Volleyball"". TheNanjinger.com. Retrieved 2 August 2022.

[3] "遭"封杀"张常宁首开口 "一定要打室内排球"".

[4] "张常宁排球生涯三道关口曾疑因选择遭封杀".

[5] "女排输球仍有一收获亚运帮郎平锻炼了张常宁".

[6] "Team Roster - China - Montreux Volley Masters 2019". 2019-05-16. Archived from the original on 2019-05-16.

[7] "张常宁当选女排联赛最受欢迎运动员".

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