Luo Jiu

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Luo Jiu (罗九)
Alias(es)	Xiao Jiu; “Super Luo”
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Chinese National Table Tennis Team (former); Black Spade Q (former); Jiangcheng University Team (former); Hubei Provincial Sports Bureau
Occupation/Role	Professional table tennis player (retired); Deputy Director of the Table Tennis and Badminton Sports Management Center, Hubei Provincial Sports Bureau; honorary vice president of Jiangcheng University of Physical Education
Status	Retired from competition; married to Fan Xiaoxian
First Appearance	Mentioned in Chapter 43; first direct appearance in Chapter 118 43 118

Background

Luo Jiu was once regarded as the greatest young talent in Chinese table tennis, with his talent later identified as Microscopic Precision: exceptional fine touch and control at the smallest level. He entered the national first team at nineteen and became League A’s 10th-season MVP, where he was remembered as the competition’s greatest player. 53 73 196

He led Black Spade Q to a League A championship in the club’s first season. Though he wished to remain and pursue promotion with the club, Fan Xiaoxian persuaded him to pursue higher-level competition; he subsequently entered the national-team system. 138 320

For seven years, Luo Jiu persisted with He Jingping’s two-sided loop-drive system without fully mastering it. He Jingping’s harsh training caused Luo Jiu an emotional breakdown and a prolonged estrangement; at one point, He Jingping even turned him away during a snowy New Year visit. 53

Their relationship began to mend when He Jingping sent Luo Jiu footage of Wang Chao. Luo Jiu initially believed Wang was a secret disciple trained to prove that He Jingping’s methods had been right all along, but accepted the truth and reaffirmed his own direction of effort. 53

Technical Reform

Luo Jiu’s reform centered on replacing his backhand rubber with pips-out rubber, an idea Wang Chao first proposed after studying his match footage. The change drew widespread criticism when Luo’s traditional backhand loop drives gave way to push-blocks and pips-out play, but it eventually became the foundation of his breakthrough. 57 90 145

Milestone	Chapter	Notes
Begins a seven-year pursuit of He Jingping’s system	53	Could not initially master the two-sided loop-drive style despite extensive training.
Reconnects with He Jingping	53	Reassesses his path after watching Wang Chao’s match footage.
Adopts pips-out backhand rubber	90	The controversial equipment change alters his backhand game.
Defeats Sun Tianlong at the Asian Cup	149	His unconventional “Dragon Slaying Technique” succeeds after he loses the first two games.
Reaches mastery of the reformed system	206	His Asian Cup performance leaves Mizutori Hato unwilling to face him again.

Appearance

Luo Jiu is slender, with a slightly round but youthful face. His warm smile reveals faint dimples, contributing to the refined, gentle impression he gives on first meeting. 73 119 438

• Youthful, refined appearance; he was described as shy-looking at nineteen. 73
• Slightly round face rather than a heavy build. 119
• Faint dimples when smiling. 119
• Slender physique. 438

Personality

On court, Luo Jiu is calm, analytical, and exceptionally precise; off court, he is lively, talkative, enthusiastic, and fond of jokes. His tendency to ramble and boast is so familiar to his peers that Wang Chao and Sun Tianlong rarely take offense at it. 119 460 463 465

His confidence can become intense when a title is at stake. He openly announced his intention to win gold, yet his outward cheerfulness often conceals severe pressure and a fear of failing to meet his own ambitions. 281 421

Luo Jiu is fundamentally kind-hearted. Even while crushing Arul in a one-sided match, he deliberately allowed his opponent a final point rather than pursue a shutout. 392

He is proud but not cowardly: when Wang Chao became a genuine threat, Luo Jiu chose fair competition rather than ask his junior to compromise his fighting spirit. 320

Abilities & Skills

Microscopic Precision

Luo Jiu’s defining talent is Microscopic Precision, granting him extraordinary fine touch and control over spin, placement, and contact. 196

• Reads minute technical habits and tactical preferences in opponents. 119
• Uses calculation and prediction to expand even slight openings in an opponent’s defense. 440
• Can identify spin and placement accurately even against highly concealed serves. 442
• His match analysis is strong enough to formulate opponent-specific plans without direct prior competition. 119 128

Two-Sided Loop-Drive System

Luo Jiu employs He Jingping’s all-table two-sided loop-drive attacking system, built around continuous transitions, varied spin, and forehand-backhand combinations. 298 413

• Uses inverted rubber on the forehand and pips-out rubber on the backhand. 90 298
• Creates abrupt changes between spin and no-spin shots to disrupt an opponent’s judgment. 413
• Combines forehand loops, backhand flicks, push-blocks, chops, and placement changes in a single rally. 441
• The system’s primary engine remains his forehand loop drive; most of his tactical framework begins from that side. 467

Forehand Loop Drive

Luo Jiu’s forehand is renowned less for raw power than for its connection, variety, rhythm changes, and ability to sustain all-table pressure. 413

• Uses heavy loops, super-spin shots, quick drives, and sudden directional changes. 145 434 441
• Can attack from close range, mid-distance, and long distance while maintaining technical variation. 467
• Uses forehand-backhand rhythm shifts to disorient even elite opponents such as Sun Tianlong. 145
• His forehand offense becomes more dangerous when he commits fully rather than hesitates. 460

Backhand Flick

His pips-out backhand flick is recognized internationally as an elite weapon, built on speed and suddenness rather than extended looping exchanges. 311 413

• Flicks short balls directly toward the baseline to seize initiative. 441
• Produces a sharp change of pace from his varied forehand loops. 145
• Can penetrate defensive players such as Arul through pure speed. 463
• Can be strategically suppressed: Sun Tianlong targeted Luo Jiu’s backhand to prevent his wider offensive system from developing. 467 468

Tactical Psychology

Luo Jiu treats competition as both a technical and mental contest.

• Placement — identifies an opponent’s preferred and feared landing points through long-term observation. 119
• Shouting — advocates emotional expression and passion as necessary for reaching peak competitive performance. 119
• Empty Fort Strategy — deliberately allows an opponent to reveal their plans, observing before making a decisive counter-adjustment. 442
• Can use psychological tricks to induce errors in spin judgment. 432

Equipment

• Custom racket — his personal racket uses inverted forehand rubber and pips-out backhand rubber. 90 298
• “Super Luo” racket — a commercial 1:1 replica of Luo Jiu’s custom racket; the first production model was authenticated by Luo Jiu and later kept by He Jingping. 60

Competitive Career

Result	Competition / Team	Notes
League A MVP	10th Table Tennis League A	Recognized as MVP at nineteen. 73
League A champion	Black Spade Q	Led the club to its first-season championship. 138
Asian Cup champion	Chinese National Team	Defeated Sun Tianlong through his reformed style. 149
World Table Tennis Championships runner-up	Chinese National Team	Lost the men’s singles final to Wang Chao. 437 505
Super League Autumn champion	Jiangcheng University Team	Defeated Wu Li in the decisive match to secure the title. 484
World No. 2 reputation	Post–Sun Tianlong retirement	Widely regarded as the world’s second-best player despite failing to win major titles during Wang Chao’s dominance. 506

Major Arcs

Rivalry with Sun Tianlong

Luo Jiu’s long-running pursuit of Sun Tianlong defines much of his professional career. He set defeating Sun as the condition for He Jingping to accept Wang Chao as a disciple, later achieved an Asian Cup victory, and continued to view Sun as the opponent he most needed to surpass. 53 149 432

At the Olympics, Sun neutralized Luo Jiu by persistently suppressing his backhand and denying the forehand-led system room to develop. Luo Jiu fought desperately, but Sun’s patient targeting exposed the limits of his style. 466 467 468

World Championships Final against Wang Chao

Luo Jiu reached the World Table Tennis Championships final against Wang Chao after forcing Lin Zijun into a prolonged, high-intensity duel. He used the match to sharpen his offense with Sun Tianlong as his imagined future opponent. 430 432 434

The final became a battle of calculation, attrition, and mutual familiarity. Luo Jiu won the opening games through tactical adjustment and the Empty Fort Strategy, but the effort required to maintain his precision steadily exhausted him. 441 442 444

He ultimately lost to Wang Chao, leaving him a World Championships runner-up. 437 505

Relationship with Fan Xiaoxian

Luo Jiu and Fan Xiaoxian kept their relationship private after he promised to return and marry her only after winning an Olympic championship. The promise became painful as his technical reform delayed the success he expected. 320

After his World Championships loss, Luo Jiu returned to Spade Q, proposed to Fan Xiaoxian in the training hall, and received an immediate acceptance. 446

Their relationship revitalized his competitive spirit; at the Olympics, he played with a passion and aggression that exceeded his usual restrained style. 460

They married in a major ceremony before the Spring Festival, concluding a nine-year relationship. 504

Return to Spade Q and Retirement

Nine and a half years after leaving, Luo Jiu returned to Black Spade Q as a veteran player. By then, he could clearly feel his declining physical condition and questioned whether he could still challenge Wang Chao. 505

He retired soon afterward, choosing family life over remaining with the national team. He joined the Hubei Provincial Sports Bureau as deputy director and later became an honorary vice president at Jiangcheng University of Physical Education. 506

Relationships

• He Jingping — mentor and former estranged coach; Luo Jiu endured seven years of reform under him before their reconciliation. 53 128
• Wang Chao — junior brother, rival, and trusted confidant; Luo Jiu gave him tactical advice and later faced him in the World Championships final. 119 437
• Fan Xiaoxian — longtime lover and later wife; she waited through his years of reform and accepted his proposal without hesitation. 320 446 504
• Sun Tianlong — principal rival and benchmark; Luo Jiu defeated him at the Asian Cup but continued to pursue him through the Olympics. 149 466
• Lin Zijun — elite rival whose defense Luo Jiu used to refine his offense before facing higher-level opponents. 431 434
• Hook — close friend and practice partner; their intense training pushed Hook to seek additional partners for confidence. 447 465
• Fan Xiaofan — Fan Xiaoxian’s brother and Black Spade Q owner; initially lost Luo Jiu to higher-level competition but later welcomed his return. 320 505

Notable Quotes

“Whether you believe me or not, support me or oppose me, are angry or happy, in short, I've got this gold medal.” — Luo Jiu 421

“Fight with all your might! There’s no other way.” — He Jingping to Luo Jiu before his match with Sun Tianlong 466

“Marry me?” — Luo Jiu to Fan Xiaoxian 446

Trivia

• Luo Jiu’s “Super Luo” racket was named after him and reproduced his personal racket specifications exactly. 60
• His pips-out reform became famous enough to inspire the fan meme: “When Heaven doesn’t give birth to me, Luo Xiao Jiu, pimples-out rubber will be like eternal night.” 421
• He is known for socializing easily across the table-tennis world and gained South American fans after becoming Hook’s teammate. 504
• Luo Jiu was thirty when injuries and accumulated strain began visibly diminishing his competitive strength. 504