(Chung's Notes: This interview took place on October 15, the day Ma Lin won the World Cup. The sentences inside [] are the reporter's comments made after the interview.)
This afternoon, Ma Lin won the World Cup title in
Yangzhou, beating Kim Taek Soo 3-0. After the last point, Ma
knelt down and was in tears. Not being selected to represent
China at the Olympics was a severe blow to Ma, but the
20-year-old has survived. Tonight, we held an exclusive interview
with Ma.
Reporter: Very few thought that you would beat Kim so cleanly.
Ma: I did not think so, too. I was prepared to play the full 5 games. Before this match, I lost three times in a row to Kim. In the past, by the time we played the 5th game, Kim would have adjusted to my serves and my attacks. That's why I don't like playing the 5th game against him, and I tried to win in 3. I got my wishes today. [R: Looking at the match, we did not see any worry or anxiety on Ma's face. He played with a great deal of patience. This level of maturity is very rare in young players, and that makes Ma so special.]
R: The scores in your semi-final match against Wang Liqin were also a little surprising.
M: Some people said that Wang dumped that match to me, because of the scores. How could that be? Like myself, Wang had never won a world title; this is a great opportunity to him also. Before the match I thought that it would be the most difficult for me. But Wang did not play all that well, and I was able to use all my techniques. I really played quite well. I added some variations to my serves, and Wang did not handle them well. [R: You only have to see how Wang stomped his feet in disgust after his mistakes to know that he did not dump the match.]
R: Although you practiced with the big ball more than other
players did, you are still not fully adjusted to it yet, right?
M: Realisticaly, I am at about the 60%-70% level (in terms of understand the big ball). Before the tournament I had the confidence to win, but I did not expect to play at such a high level: I only lost one game to Persson in the tournament. About the big ball, I think one has to first get used to its speed and spin, and consciously remind oneself that one has to play differently. Based on that foundation, one has to strengthen one's technical forte. With the big ball, the changes in my game principally show up on my backhand. Because the ball is slower, I can be more deliberate in using my backhand loops. With the small ball, I was a little nervous about using the backhand loop, and if I missed a few times, I was afraid to use that shot. Now my percentage is much higher, and I use it two or three times in a game. Not only am I more confident, my opponent also feels more pressure. When you play good players, two or three points is the difference. [R: From Ma's experience, the inverted backhand loop has more applicability in the big ball era. This is a good opportunity for Liu Guoliang and Yan Sen, because it strengthens the backhand.]
R: The last couple of days you have been coughing. Are you feeling well? Did it affect your play?
M: I had a cold before I left Beijing, and it is not over yet. I have been coughing since I came to Yangzhou. The big ball is slower, and it requires more energy to attack. Also, there are more extended rallies, so I felt that physically I was a little questionable. I sweated a lot in the matches, and I felt very tired afterwards. [We have not heard Ma mention his physical condition in the press meetings, but he was always coughing in those meetings.]
R: You cried after the finals. Tell us how you really felt.
M: That was a really complex feeling, and hard to explain. I
felt it was very tough for me during those days when we prepared
for the Olympics and I was not on the team. I don't know how I
made it through. Especially on the day the team left for Sydney,
when I saw that they were so happy and excited, and I had to
continue training with those who were not going. That feeling was
very hard to describe. When I won the tornament today, I felt
that life has been fair to me. [R: For someone prepared to go to
the Olympics, not being selected was like being hit with cold
rain that could put the fire out in one's life. This World Cup
title is the lightest one of the grand slam titles, but Ma still
cried. Through this title, he has proved that he passed the test.
After the storm he can now see the rainbow. He is stronger and
more mature.]
Zhou, famous Chinese penholder and member of the Chinese team that won the team title in 1965, died of cancer in Beijing on October 23. He was a teammate of Chuang Tze-Tung, Li Furong, Zhang Xielin and Xu Yansheng; collectively they were called the "Five Tigers". He was also the second runner-up in the 28th Worlds (1965). Zhou retired from the national team in 1973, and began a brilliant coaching career. The players he coached include Guo Yuehua, Chen Xinhua and Cao Yanhua, all world champions.
Zhou emigrated to Australia in 1986. He became coach of the Australian national team. He left his post in 1996, and was a visiting coach for Taiwan for a short period. His daughter Shirley Zhou was the top-ranked female player in Australia for years.
Zhou was a political prisoner for 8 months after the 31st Worlds; that finished his career as a player. He did not talk much about that part of his life in an interview with Table Tennis World earlier this year, but it was clear that the experience left deep emotional scars. As a player, he was famous for his blocks and powerful smashes. As a coach he was loved by his players. Cao Yanhua, the world champion in 1983 and 1985, described her great admiration for her coach in her autobigraphy "Woman Born In The Year Of The Tiger" with a lot of interesting anecdotes.
"An athlete's success is determind not only by his
results, but more importantly, by how he is, as a person".
Zhou Lanshun (1939-2000), in a Table-Tennis World Interview.
Click here
for a photo of Li Shuzhou, chief
engineer of RITC, and inventor of the Friendship 729 series of
rubbers. The middle picture shows the new 729-40
inverted rubbers, and the bottom picture shows the new 802-40 pips-out rubber. These are new
products developed with the help of the Chinese national team,
the Hong Kong team and the Indonesian team.
