Lin Gaoyuan Equipment and Profile

Last Updated on June 19, 2024 by Alex Horscroft

Lin Gaoyuan is a talented Chinese table tennis player who has been ranked in the top 15 since 2017. While he’s capable of beating any player in the world, Lin lacks major wins at the senior level. 

In this article, I discuss all of the key info about Lin Gaoyuan. You will learn what equipment he uses, his playstyle, key moments of his career, and which opponents have given him the most trouble. 

Lin Gaoyuan Key Info

Name: Lin Gaoyuan

Nationality: Chinese

Nickname: The Dark Knight

Date of Birth: 19th March 1995

Grip: Shakehand

Style: Looper (lefty)

Highest ranking: 2 (2019)

Height: 5 ft 9 in

Lin Gaoyuan’s Equipment in 2024

Lin Gaoyuan’s Blade

It wouldn’t surprise me if you’ve never seen Lin Gaoyuan’s blade before as it is hardly mainstream. It’s called the Gan Jiang Sword. The brand is Yuan Jian. I had to look them up as I’ve never come across them before. Supposedly, Lin Gaoyuan founded the company himself! That was a bit of a shock!

There appears to be another blade beside the Gan Jiang Sword, it’s called the Moye Sword. Gaoyuan has used this blade before, but from studying screenshots from his recent matches, it seems he’s using the Gan Jiang Sword currently.

Lin used to be sponsored by Butterfly and got his own signature blade — the Butterfly Lin Gaoyuan ALC. However, when his contract ended at the end of 2022, he soon made the switch and Butterfly discontinued his signature blade. If we go back even further to before he got his signature blade, he used the wildly popular Viscaria. 

Lin Gaoyuan’s Rubbers

Tracking down Lin Gaoyuan’s rubbers has proven to be quite troublesome. They’re not listed anywhere officially and I can’t seem to get a good enough look at them in any of his recent matches.

There’s a photo floating around of Lin’s racket from a few years back. In it, the paddle features Hurricane 3 National Blue Sponge and Butterfly Dignics 05. 

However, I have seen that some people are suggesting he has since switched from Dignics 09C to Dignics 05. Unfortunately, I can’t confirm this, as I couldn’t find any evidence to support it.

Lin Gaoyuan’s Playstyle

Scary Backhand

Most players have a strong preference for their forehand and it shows. This isn’t especially true for Lin Gaoyuan. Some years ago he stated that he preferred his backhand, and I can see why.

His backhand motion is very fluid and he’s great at flicking the ball. He also plays a diverse range of shots on this side, commonly using blocks and drives in addition to his flicks and loops. This helps mix up the flow of the game and demonstrates that he is very effective at switching between offense and defense. 

While I do think his backhand is very high quality, I’m not convinced it’s quite up there with the likes of Zhang Jike in his prime. It’s also evident in recent matches that Lin feels his forehand is a more powerful weapon. Like almost all of the pros, his forehand covers more of the table than his backhand.

Precise

One of Lin’s qualities that impresses me the most is his precision. Countless times I watched him on the defensive, blocking deadly forehand loops from the likes of Ma Long and Fan Zhendong, then abruptly, he switched flanks, playing a wide ball to the backhand. 

Frequently he manages to hit the ball very near the sideline which is a very difficult thing to do when you have the best loopers in the world blasting balls your way. Yet the payoff is high. These blocks/drives almost always win him the point. 

Close to the Table

Lin doesn’t play as close to the tables as the likes of Harimoto, but he plays closer than most. This is likely to take advantage of his superior backhand. He can play the ball off the bounce rather well which helps to throw off his opponent’s timing.

This is one of the reasons his wide balls are so effective. If he were to strike them later, his opponents would have enough time to switch flanks. 

Lin Gaoyuan in Action!

Lin Gaoyuan’s Career

Junior Success & Setbacks at the Senior Level

Lin Gaoyuan is one of the top Chinese table tennis players in the world. He showed a lot of promise on the junior scene, scooping up 16 medals at various World Junior Championship events, five of which were gold.

Many people expected him to rise through the ranks and secure a top spot in the Chinese National Team. However, this has yet to happen. As we know, competition is fierce in China, and Gaoyuan hasn’t quite achieved the level required. Consequently, Lin often misses out on competitions with limited entry spots per country (such as the Olympics).   

One of Lin’s most notable setbacks occurred in 2017 when he lost two big matches at the World Championships and World Cup — two very important competitions. In both matches, he was comfortably ahead in the deciding game (10-4 and 10-5), however, he faltered and ended up losing. 

This raised concerns over Lin’s mental strength and diminished the faith that the powers that be had in him. 

Lin’s Resurgence

Fortunately, Lin bounced back after these crushing losses, rising to #2 in the world in 2019. 

The year prior he also secured gold in the Team event at the World Championships. He would go on to obtain another two golds in the same tournament in 2018 and 2022. 

Lin also experienced success at the World Cup, winning gold three times from 2018-2023 in the Team and Mixed Team events. 

Current Career

As of 2024, Lin has slipped to #7 in the rankings. While this is still very respectable, he sits below four other Chinese players (Wang Chuqin, Fan Zhendong, Liang Jingkun, and Ma Long). This makes it very hard for Lin to secure a regular spot in the Chinese National Team. 

Even when Ma Long retires, he’ll have to demonstrate superiority over Liang Jingkun to secure a more permanent position in the squad. He currently sits over 800 points behind him. 

Lin Gaoyuan’s Toughest Opponent’s

Lin Gaoyuan vs. Ma Long

Surprise, surprise! Lin’s toughest opponent is The Dragon himself, Ma Long. He has gotten the better of Lin in 8 out of their 9 matches, usually in a comfortable fashion. 

Lin first showed promise of securing a much-needed win back in 2022 at the WTT Star Contender where he lost 3-2. His next opportunity was equally close despite the 4-1 scorecard, with four out of the five games going past deuce.

Six months later, Lin finally got his revenge, beating Ma in a close five-setter at the WTT Finals. He would also go on to beat Fan Zhendong 4-0 in the finals! A superb tournament showing! 

Lin Gaoyuan vs. Liang Jingkun

Lin may have won twice as many matches against Liang as he has against Ma, but his record is still poor, sitting at a 25% win rate. He always seems to win games, but Liang usually wins by a good margin. Lin has lost all three of their last three meetings, and where Liang won a total of 11 sets, Lin won just 4. 

Lin Gaoyuan vs. Xu Xin

Lin should be thankful that Xu Xin has retired from the Chinese National Team as he presented a big obstacle to being selected for tournaments. 

Lin has only won 3 of the 12 matches they played together, and their last match was brief, to say the least. Xu Xin tore him apart 11-6, 11-6, 11-4, 11-8. Yikes!

Opponents	Wins	Losses	Win Rate
Ma Long	1	8	12.5%
Liang Jingkun	2	6	25%
Xu Xin	3	9	25%
Fan Zhendong	4	10	29%
Mattias Falck	2	2	50%
Tomokazu Harimoto	3	3	50%
Timo Boll	3	3	50%

Lin Gaoyuan’s Medals

🏆 World Championships — 3x gold, 3x bronze (Team, Doubles, Mixed Doubles)

🏆 World Cup — 3x gold, 1x bronze (Singles, Team, Mixed Doubles) 

🏆 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals — 1x silver, 2x bronze (Singles) 

🏆 Asian Games — 2x gold, 3x silver (Singles, Team, Mixed Doubles)

🏆 Asian Cup — 1x gold, 1x silver (Singles)

🏆 World Junior Championships —5x gold, 6x silver, 5x bronze (Singles, Team, Doubles, Mixed Doubles)

Closing Thoughts

Lin Gaoyuan is an exceptional table tennis player who can beat anyone on his day. However, he has failed to meet the high expectations of the Chinese National Team, so he often misses out on big competitions where there are limited spots available. 

Even when Ma Long retires, he still has a lot of work to do to cement himself as a regular player in the team. This is likely his top priority, as Lin lacks singles medals at any of the major competitions (World Championships, World Cup, Olympics).   

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