Who is better, Cai or Ni?
Cai Zhenhua leads with a GOAT score of 86.3 against 86.2 for Ni Xialian — a gap of 0.1 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Cai vs Ni
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Cai Zhenhua above Ni Xialian: 86.3 vs 86.2. Cai Zhenhua leads on Dominance, Honours, Peak. Ni Xialian leads on Longevity.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
CaiWinner
86.3Cai wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours, Statistics
Ni
86.2Ni wins: Longevity
Candidates
Locked to Table TennisShareable URL · /compare/cai-zhenhua-vs-ni-xialian
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇨🇳 Cai Zhenhua
86.3
Cai leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Cai Zhenhua
2. Ni Xialian
Category breakdown
Season form · Form index per season
Career timeline · Form index per season
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
GOAT pace tracker
Career stage · GOAT pace
Through season 5 · Form index per season1. 🇨🇳 Cai Zhenhua5 seasons played · career day 1,825368 titles
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇱🇺 Ni Xialian5 seasons played · career day 1,82528 titles
-92.4% vs Cai at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇨🇳 Cai | 0 | 0 | 50 | 112 | 368 | 653 |
| 🇱🇺 Ni | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 28 | 64 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 season periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | CaiRetired | NiActive |
|---|---|---|
| World team titles | 4 | — |
| World doubles titles | 2 | — |
| World Cup medals | 2 | — |
| Asian Championship titles | 3 | — |
| World Championship medals | 8 | — |
| World Championship golds | — | 2 |
| European titles | — | 3 |
| Olympic Games contested | — | 6 |
| European Championship medals | — | 8 |
| Professional seasons | — | 40 |
| Dominance w25% | 86 | 80 |
| Peak w20% | 92 | 88 |
| Longevity w20% | 76 | 96 |
| Honours w20% | 90 | 84 |
| Statistics w15% | 88 | 84 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Cai86.3
Ni86.2
FAQ
Where does Ni beat Cai?
Ni scores higher on longevity. Cai leads on peak, dominance, honours, statistics.
How is the Cai vs Ni score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Cai: 86.3, Ni: 86.2.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Cai vs Ni. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.