How and where did you start table tennis?
Family and through my father, who was himself a Chinese national player. 

Which coaches did support and inspire you?
My father Wang Guhoi, Liu Liping. 

How many training sessions per week do you complete (Table Tennis, Fitness, others)?
Table tennis 11 units, fitness 3-4 units. 

Your aims for this season or short- middle- and long-term?
Top 50 in the world rankings, participation in European and World Championships as well as the Olympic Games.

Yuan Wan is German Champion in double competition. She is German Champion in mixed competition. She is a national player. However, Yuan Wan only played her best table tennis ever in August 2022, at the WTT Contender in Tunisia, a tournament organised by the ITTF, where she was a complete underdog and managed to win 3:0 against a top 20 player in the world rankings. 

A few weeks later, Yuan also impressed at the European Championships in Munich, where she was post-nominated by the DTTB and managed to make it among the top 32. "I have already made a small step forward in the last six months," said the 25-year-old afterwards, and you can already guess that Yuan Wan is extraordinarily modest. 

Asked about the fact whether she is obviously particularly strong in the double’s disciplines - after all, she is the German doubles and mixed champion, and she was also the German cadet champion in doubles - Yuan replied: "I always thought I didn't play so well in double competition. Maybe it's also because of my partners." With Chantal Mantz, who is also part of the DONIC family, she played well right from the start. "We were already German champions at 18, 19." In the women's competition, of course.

"The cooperation with DONIC means a lot to me, I am very grateful for their trust."

Two years ago, Yuan Wan joined DONIC and it turned out that it had been an important step in her career. "I am very happy with my equipment," says Yuan. Her blade, a DONIC Original, offers her the right mix of power and ball control. Her backhand rubber, a DONIC BlueGrip C2, supports her dangerous serves. 

The three or four metres high backhand serves which she can serve all over the table are her trademark and she has improved them even more with her new equipment. "Now I can vary the length even better," says Yuan, "I deliberately serve half-long more often now than before." 

The BlueGrip C2 would also be ideal for the first backhand spin, Yuan thinks. "The serve has always been my strength, but now the first ball after that is even more aggressive. As long as I play actively, it goes very well, only passively it is a bit more difficult." 

But Yuan Wan doesn't really want to play passively anyway. The daughter of the former Chinese national player and current professional coach Wan Guohui certainly has good table tennis genes, but her father, who was feared for his forehand topspin in his active days, had to realise that his daughter was not so good with this stroke. That's why, Yuan says, she switched to short pimples when she was eleven. And with success. Today, she plays short pimples on her forehand and attacks with them uncompromisingly. 

Yuan Wan is 25 and she is on her way to the top. How far can she go? " My next goal is to reach the top 50," she says, "now I'm only among the top 100." Of course, Paris would be a dream, she admits, but "the 2024 Olympics are probably too early for me." 

But she should not be underestimated. When asked about her three most outstanding characteristics, Yuan Wan puts "ambitious" at the top of the list, along with "open and helpful". Her equipment supplier DONIC completes the good environment that accompanies Yuan on her way. What she particularly appreciates about the traditional German company: "I think that the communication should be right, and that is absolutely true with DONIC."