Article updated: 2/10/2013 10:55 AM

‘Pingpong diplomacy’ figure Zhuang Zedong dies

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Zhuang Zedong, right, competes in the men's team finals of the 26th World Table Tennis Championship in Beijing in 1961.

Xinhua News Agency

Zhuang Zedong, right, shakes hands with U.S. table tennis player Glenn Cowan during a visit to the United States in 1972. The year before, Zhuang won new fame by presenting a gift to Cowan, who had inadvertently boarded a bus carrying the Chinese team at the World Championships in Nagoya, Japan.

Xinhua News Agency

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Three-time world table tennis champion Zhuang Zedong, a key figure in the groundbreaking “pingpong diplomacy” between China and the United States, died Sunday, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported. He was 72 and had struggled with cancer since 2008.
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    • Zhuang Zedong, right, competes in the men’s team finals of the 26th World Table Tennis Championship in Beijing in 1961.
    • Zhuang Zedong, right, shakes hands with U.S. table tennis player Glenn Cowan during a visit to the United States in 1972. The year before, Zhuang won new fame by presenting a gift to Cowan, who had inadvertently boarded a bus carrying the Chinese team at the World Championships in Nagoya, Japan.
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