Underspin - E Y Zhao

Ryan Lo begins playing table tennis aged eight. His brilliant but ruthless coach sees a talent in him that might be nurtured into greatness. Through an adolescence marked by hours of practice, matches away from home, clandestine relationships and a determination to win, Ryan ascends to the highest echelons of the game, just as he was supposed to. But here he is now, dead before his twenty-fifth birthday, leaving grief and confusion in his wake. Ryan Lo was meant to be great. What happened? Underspin delves beneath the pressure that forges a champion, and the vulnerability that makes a coming of age: the crackling intensity of a match, the push and pull of first love, and the great injustices committed within our closest relationships.