Chinese paddlers face tough fight for Olympic berths
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Not surprisingly, China continued its supremacy on the world table tennis stage last year. However, the competition between world champion teammates to make the 2012 Games in London become fiercer due to a shrinking field while coaches and officials have realized it's time to fight for the fan market.
China, again, dominated the World Championships in Yokohama, Japan, in May, bagging 17 of the 20 medals across five events.
Though the men's players, for the first time in the past four years, lost the singles title at the World Cup in Guangzhou in October, the women's side won with ease.
Both sides also defended their World Cup team titles in Austria.
However, it will be impossible for China to emulate their success at the Beijing Games (all the singles medals and two team golds) at the 2012 Olympics as each country can only send two players at most, instead of three in Beijing, to compete in the singles events in London, according the sport's ruling body's decision on Dec 20 in Colombia.
Liu Guoliang, head coach of China's national men's team, considers the change "unfair", saying "players have been working so hard for their Olympic dream and it's cruel to deprive their rights overnight".
For players in the champion-studded Chinese squad, the fight for flight tickets to London has accelerated.
Wang Liqin, a three-time singles winner at the Worlds, will find it hard to turn his two Olympic singles bronze medals into a gold. Wang will turn 34 in 2012 and will probably miss his fourth trip to the Olympics. Men's singles defending champion Ma Lin, who has been tangled in divorce proceedings and failed at October's National Games, is also at risk due to the cut of the quota.
Meanwhile, two-time Olympic men's singles silver medalist Wang Hao and Ma Long, who collected all four titles for men's players at November's Asian Championships, are considered the ones to watch by coach Liu heading towards 2012. It's important not to overlook 19-year-old Xu Xin, the singles winner at East Asian Games, and 21-year-old Zhang Jike, the 2008 National Championships winner, as well.
As for the even stronger women's squad, it seems the only big issue is whether four-time Olympic gold medalist Zhang Yining will come back to the table this year. After defending her singles title and leading her Beijing team to the championship at the National Games, the 28-year-old married a businessman on Oct 18. She hasn't picked up a paddle competitively since then but no retirement has been announced.
"The one that can match Zhang Yining has not shown up yet. It's not only a matter of skill but the mentality of a real champion and the experience after so many big tournaments," Shi Zhihao, the head coach of women's team, said.
However, there seems no need to worry about the team's dominance in London despite Zhang's uncertain future. According to the world rankings, Chinese women players occupy the top five spots, with 18-year-old Liu Shiwen named the world No 1 for the first time. The standout performer of the post-1990s generation, Liu won her first world title at the World Cup in Guangzhou, sending a warning to world champions Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia.
The national table tennis team started its buildup to 2012 with a 35-day intensive training camp which started this month. Those who perform well might represent the country at the Moscow World Championships (team) in May.
While the players are fighting for berths at the Games, officials are more concerned about the destiny of the sport.
To make the competition open and attract more fans, China sent a second-tier squad to compete in mixed doubles at the Worlds in Japan. However, Li Ping and Cao Zhen still won the title.
"It definitely does no good to the sport's future if all the major titles at international tournaments are pocketed by the Chinese," said Cai Zhenhua, deputy director of the China State General Administration of Sport and president of Chinese Table Tennis Association.
After the Worlds, China invited foreign players to train with its national squad, which was called a "wolf-raising plan" by domestic media.
Meanwhile, coach Liu is calling for the all-conquering but poker-faced team to display more personality in an attempt to lure younger fans.
"The Chinese table tennis team has a rich history of 50 years and a tradition of strict management. It has helped us to dominate the sport on the world stage," Liu said. "But as times change, gold medals alone don't feed the fans, you have to show unique characteristics. Our Chinese players are not doing a very good job of that."
Chen Qi, who was considered a bad boy three years ago for his poor behavior at the table, is now a role model in the team.
"To promote table tennis we will give this kind of player more chances to compete in tournaments and encourage them to participate in charity drives."
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