The Chinese national team members are at the training base in the city of Zhengding, and the first phase of the training is coming to a close. Starting on March 19, they will enter into the critical second phase. The first phase is primarily basic training, and therefore increasing the players' confidences with the big ball. Also, physical trainining is emphasized in the first phase, and there is a weekly 8,000 meter run to help increase the stamina of the players.
Right now we are most concerned about Liu Guoliang's form. Also, how has the training been for the rest of the players? Reporters have interviewed the players in Zhengding to find out more.
Even though this is only the first phase of training, the players are taking it very seriously, especially the 5 top men players; the volume of training has been very high for them. Especially worth mentioning is Liu Guoliang. There have been a lot of discussion about whether Liu is "over the hill". Liu has been frustrated about his poor performance recently, and is hoping that he could regain his top form in Osaka. It is very difficult for Liu to come up with another break-through in techniques, so the key thing for Liu is to increase the quality of his play. On this Coach Yin Xiao said , "The problem with Liu is not that he is not adjusted to the bigger ball, or that his techniques have fallen behind. The real problem is that the quality of Liu's shots have dropped, and therefore his attacks are now weaker. We are now working hard to have Liu regain the quality of his hits, back to his old level with the small ball. We have to increase his speed, and we are working on his equipment and his motion. We are looking for a better blade and a better sponge, and making adjustment to his motions."
Based on the first phase of training, Liu has done quite well. In the second phase the coaches will work with Liu to develop tactics that cater to his strengths.
Kong's shoulder appears to be under control (Chung's notes: this was written before Kong hurt his neck). Ma Lin, Wang Liqin and Liu Gupzheng are all basically in form now.
The players' unanimous reaction to the training is that they feel very tired. The older players all feel exhausted from the intense training. The players work 2.5 hours in the morning on basic techniques, and then in the afternoon, there is 1.5 hour of single-ball practice, followed by 2.5 hours of multiple-ball practice. In the multi-ball drill, each player has to hit 800 balls in a row: this is intended to inprove footwork and stamina. At night, the players have to study video tapes of opponents, and then discuss the characteristics of each of the key foreign players.
Because doubles is a strong event for the Chinese, there is little practice of doubles in the first phase. They only have two doubles sessions twice a week, each lasting an hour. In the second phase the amount of training for doubles will increase.
Starting on March 19, the training will move into the second phase. The emphasis will be on actual match preparation, and more time will be spent on tactics and strategies. There will be 8 mock tournaments. As far as who plays in the men's squad in Osaka, the reporters heard that there will be one additional player (other than Zhan Jian) not chosen on tournament results. This player will be picked directly by the coaches.
(Chung's Notes: For the men's roster, Liu Guoliang, Kong, Wang, Ma and Liu Guozheng are definitely in. That leaves 2 more spots for singles. Zhan Jian, who has won an internal tournament at Zhengding, is likely to make the team. Zhan Jian is a strong young player who plays a very unconventional style: shakehands with pips-out on the forehand and inverted on the backhand. The last player will probably be chosen among Hou Yingchao, Xu Hui, Liu Heng and Chen Junji. Yan Sen will probably be playing doubles only; Yan is currently taking a leave to play in the Japan professional league, and will go back to Zhengding at the end of March. This Chinese men's team has 5 of its players in the World top 6 based on the latest rankings. I do not know there is any other men team in the history of the sport that is this strong. Of course, being strong does not mean being invincible; that's why they play the games. On the women's roster, Wang Nan, Li Ju and Zhang Yining are definitely in. Sun Jin and Yang Ying are probably in, because they are very good in doubles, as well as being good enough in singles. Two additional players will likely be chosen from the group that just finished the Croatian Open. Bai Yang, last year's Chinese national champion, may have hurt her chances by losing to Steff in Croatia. Penholder Li Nan may be chosen because she performs very well under pressure. In the Chinese Super League, Li is unbeaten in the "golden ball" matches. That is the fifth match that only takes place if the teams are tied 2-2, and in that match whoever scores 5 points first wins.)
Recently I have been very unlucky. In last week's training, I accidentally strained my neck. The last few days I have not been able to loop with my forehand, and I can only practice backhand short balls, and do physical exercises. Now I am very anxious, because I have to quickly decide on the new sponge and blade the Butterfly sent me. They are waiting for my reply. Now that I am hurt, I cannot test the new equipment. The doctor said that it will take about 10 days for me to recover. so it will be next week before I can try out the new sponge.
In the first 20 days of closed training, the men train in the morning and the afternoon, and study at night. The women train during the morning and night, and study in the afternoon. In the last 20 days, the men's and the women's schedules will swap. Now we wake up at 7 am, and start training at 8:25 am. The morning session ends at 11:30 am. The afternoon session is from 3:15 pm to 6 pm. The night studies go from 7:45 pm to 9 pm; basically we watch tapes of other players. Lights out at 10:30 pm. I room with Liu Heng, and not with Liu Guoliang: it is a team tradition that in closed training an older player will room with a younger player.
We practice doubles twice a week: on Tuesdays and Saturdays. At the Yokohama Grand Finals, Gouliang and I have problems in our rhythm, and we did not feel right. Now we are more used to the pace of the big ball, and we feel much better. In doubles training we are mainly working on how to handle the short balls, and try to fill some of the gaps in our tactics. When we first played with the big ball, our serves were affected a lot, but now we are OK. Even though Guoliang's serves are not as devastating as before, the drop-off is not that big. Many fans hope that we could capture the doubles title for the third time; that would tie the Wang Tao-Liu Wei results. Of course that is what we are hoping for also, but in practice this will be very difficult. The last two times were not easy for us, and in Osaka we will face more difficulties, because our level has dropped compared to when we were playing with the small ball. Our main opponents in Osaka are Waldner/Persson, Kim/Oh, Yoo/Lee, Schlager/Jindrak, Chila/Gatien, etc. Then there are our own Wang/Yan and Liu/Ma. Of our three pairs, there is no one that is clearly better, although Wang and Yan have better results recently.
Some fans ask me whether I will play mixed doubles, and with whom. I feel that I probably will not play mixed doubles, because the coaches have not talked to me about that. At the World's, once you get into the round of 8 in mixed doubles, you are basically playing against your own teammates, so it not as meaningful to me. Also, playing all 3 indiviudal events is quite demanding on one's physical shape, and one gets very tired near the end. Also, because of my shoulder, I may not be able to play in all three events.
(Chung's notes: Kong appears to be quite low-keyed about the men's singles. He probably does not feel confident, with his injuries and the great competition from Wang, Liu Guozheng and Ma Lin. His injuries have been very frustrating to him, but judging from how well he played against Heister, he is still a major contender for the singles title.)
The Hong Kong Table Tennis Team is also training in Zhengding, togther with the Chinese national team. The main coach is Wang Wenhua, and other coach is Hui Jun. The men's team consists of Ko Chak-Li, Li Jing, Yung Do Long, Lin Ting and Leung Chu-Yan. Click here for photos of head coach Wang, Li Jing, Ko Chak Li, and Li/Ko training for doubles, in that order from the top.
(Chung's notes: With the addition of Li and Ko, both professional players from nearby Guangdong province, the Hong Kong men's team is strong enough to make it to the top 8, I think)
Gao is currently in China, because her husband has been stationed in Shanghai since the beginning of the year. The CTTA asked her whether she wanted to play table-tennis, and she agreed. She joined the Chengdo team to play in a major tournament in March. She only trained for 10 days prior to the tournament, and she felt she could not keep up with the pace. But because of her solid fundamentals, she was undefeated in the first 5 days of the tournament. In the semifinals, she lost the "Golden Ball" fifth match to Tang Na, 4-5. Even though she was disappointed, she was still happy with her overall results. She said that she had faced many kids, as well as professional players, in this tournament. She did not have high expectations, and she just wanted to do her best. She also said that there are so many kids playing in China. In the US, she has trouble finding someone to practice with.
The above is a photo, from the special edition of Table Tennis World, of the 1961 Chinese Men's Team that won the Swaythling Cup for the first time for China. Li Furong (leftmost) and Xu Yinsheng (3rd from the left) are now the chiefs of the Chinese table-tennis machine that is the national team. Rong Guotuan, China's first world champion in any sport is 6th from the left. Little did he know then that he, headcoach Fu (2nd from the left), and coach Jiang (first from the right) would die from Red Guards persecution, all within a period of days, at the heights of the Cultural Revolution in 1968. You can read more about Rong in the article that I wrote on the Table Tennis VCD Collection. Chuang Zedong (5th from the left) is the 3-time World singles champion, with Li Furong being the perennial runner-up during his reign.
China has won the Swaythling Cup 12 times, since 1961, out of the 20 times the Worlds was held. China did not participate in 1967 and 1969. The closest competitor, Sweden, has won 5 times. Japan won twice and Hungary once during that period.