In rock and roll, the age of 18 is fraught with angst. Take Alice Cooper's "I'm Eighteen," if you will. "I'm eighteen, and I don't know what I want," laments the O.G. shock rocker. "I gotta get out of this place, I'll go running in outer space." Even darker is Skid Row's "18 and Life," a compelling portrait of a tough kid from the wrong side of the tracks whose weakness for alcohol leads to tragedy. While the age of 18 might be fine fodder for headbanging lyricists, it is also a rite of passage through which every ostensible adult must pass. China's Sun Yinghsa now finds herself at this precarious age. This week she also found herself in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, for the 2019 ITTF-ATTU Asian Championships. There at the biennial event, both the Chinese women's and men's squads won their respective team titles with ease. Interestingly, each was without its #3 player, with Zhu Yuling missing from the women's lineup and Ma Long's absence sensed by the gents. With the conclusion of the team events, the players went off in search of individual glory. With the aforementioned absence of Zhu Yuling, world #6 Sun Yingsha of China was elevated to the fifth seed in Yogyakarta. Sun, herself at the volatile age 18, was there to gain experience in international competition but not considered a threat to her teammates Cheng Meng (world #1), Ding Ning (#2), Wang Manyu (#4) or Liu Shiwen (#5). Winner of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sun has also proven her mettle with two seniors singles titles on the ITTF World Tour. In Yogyakarta, Sun had a chance to make a statement. She cruised to the quarterfinals without dropping a game before she inevitably clashed with one of her teammates. Her first teammate-turned-opponent was Wang Manyu, 20, who also failed to claim a game from Sun. In the semis, Sun faced three-time world champion and reigning Olympic singles gold medalist Ding Ning, 29. With her unpredictable tomahawk serves, sometimes forehand, sometimes backhand, Ding is as tough as they come. With all her experience, however, Ding was successful only in being the first to take a single game from Sun, who prevailed (11-3, 11-1, 7-11, 11-9). In the final, Sun met with her third straight teammate, reigning world singles champion Liu Shiwen, 28. Liu, like all of Sun's teammates, had the advantage in international experience, and like them it did her no good. Sun continued her reign of terror with a clutch (14-12, 11-8, 13-11) victory, winning the women's singles title and putting the world on notice. Sun Yingsha is here to play, and she is here to stay. As Alice Cooper's ode to teen angst concludes, "I'm eighteen and I like it."

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