Early Life
From 1992 to 1995 Liu attended Shischa Sporting High School in Beijing. Afterwards she became a member of professional club Shian Nuntan, where she played with Zhang Yining. Despite Liu's successes as a Cadet and Junior, competition within the Chinese team was strong and prospects for a future international career were dim. Instead of following a call to Japan, Liu travelled to Austria when the opportunity arose to play for Austrian team Linz AG Froschberg.
She arrived in March 1997 without speaking either German or English, but quickly learned German within the year that she settled in Austria. She won the 1st International Austrian Youth Championships soon after her arrival. On 16 February 1998, her sixteenth birthday, she became an Austrian citizen and a member of the Austrian table tennis squad. Husband David Arvidsson is an international Danish table tennis player.
Read more about this topic: Liu Jia
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
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