Zhai Chao

Zhai Chao is a Chinese handball player who competed in the 1996 and 2004 Summer Olympics, as well as in the 1999, 2001 and 2003 World championships. Widely considered the best Chinese player of all time, and one of the best Asian players of all time, she was voted IHF World Player of the Year 2002.

Career

Chao Zhai started playing handball in Beijing in 1985. In the 1996 Olympics she finished fifth with the Chinese team. She played all four matches and scored 29 goals. She played for the Chinese national team at the 1999 World championship in Denmark/Norway. She started playing for the German club SV Berliner VG 49 in January 1998, and switched to the Danish club Randers HK in 2001. She played for the Chinese national team in the 2001 World Women's Handball Championship in Italy where she scored 49 goals and the 6th best scorer in the championship. She was a member of the Chinese team which finished eighth in the 2004 summer Olympics, where she played all seven matches and scored 32 goals. In 2004, she started playing for the Danish club Viborg HK, and with this club she won the EHF Champions League in 2006 and 2009. In 2007-08 she took a break from handball due to pregnancy.

Awards

Chao Zhai was voted World Handball Player of the Year 2002 by the International Handball Federation.