Chris (Xin) Yan was the only player on the men’s team with prior Commonwealth Games experience at his third Games in Birmingham where he and Jian Fang Lay lost in the round of 64 in the mixed doubles and reached the round of 16 with Dillon Chambers in the men’s doubles. He was also part of the men’s team that narrowly missed a place in the quarter finals on a countback. Chris was born in Xi’An, the capital of China’s Shaanxi province and began playing table tennis when he was nine. He moved to Australia to study when he was 21 and began coaching to supplement his income. After realising that he had a shot at making the Australian team, he was selected for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, playing in the men’s doubles, mixed doubles and teams’ events. He was also part of the 2018 Games team on the Gold Coast. Chris made his Olympic debut in Rio in 2016, then won the Australian Olympic Qualification event to earn selection for his second Olympics in Tokyo. In 2020, he was awarded the Victor Barna Memorial Trophy for the Australian Senior Player of the Year, especially after he went through the Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournament undefeated, thus ensuring Australia received the maximum quota places for Tokyo. Yan works in administration at a real estate company and earned the final spot on the men’s team for Birmingham after winning all eight matches at the final qualification tournament.