China

Young paddlers pile pressure on veteran

By Zhao Rui (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-02-27 08:30

However, format changes by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are sure to make Liu's mission harder.

Men's and women's team events will replace the doubles, which China had won each time since the Seoul Games in 1988.

In the new team event the quarterfinals have been scratched, with instead four round-robin groups that will yield the four semifinalists.

Many believe the changes are aimed at limiting China's dominance, but Liu believes they won't make any difference.

"I don't care if changes are designed for us, it doesn't bother us that much," he said. "No matter how the format changes, our goal is to finish at the top of the group and then become champion.

"On the other hand, we have to play as solidly as we can and try to win all round-robin matches at the Games. That's a very big requirement for us."

According to Liu, six players - world top three Wang Liqin, Ma Lin and Wang Hao, as well as teenagers Hao Shuai, Chen Qi and Ma Long - will be in the men's Olympic team, but only three of them will compete.

On the women's side, world No 1 Zhang, veteran Wang Nan, Guo Yue, Guo Yan and Li Xiaoxia will be fighting for the places.

China has long been a force in table tennis, but dominance reached a peak in the late 1990s when the team swept all titles at the Atlanta and Sydney Games, as well as the 2000 World Championships in Tianjin.

The ITTF became concerned that China's dominance was effecting the international competitiveness of the game, and in 2000 they stepped in with new rules enlarging the ball and slowing the speed of play, one of the Chinese players' biggest advantages.

These changes appeared to make little difference as China won all medals at the 2001 World Championships in Japan. In response, the ITTF introduced shorter 11-point games and, crucially, a ban on the "covered serves" used by the Chinese players.

Then world No 1 Liu was forced to retire after failing to adapt to the new serving requirements, and at the Athens Games in 2004 Rye Seung-min of South Korea won the men's gold medal.

(China Daily 02/27/2007 page22)


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