Yesterday we went to the hotel where the Belgian team is staying. On the 8th floor, we could hear the Belgian players singing. The Saive brothers were singing and kissing the silver medals on their chests. In roon 819, we interviewed the Belgium's coach Wang Dayong.
"Even though we have achieved the best results in our history, I feel that the European table-tennis is in serious decline. The main reason is we do not have fresh talent. Back then, the super-aggressive attacking styles of Gatien, Saive and Rosskopf gave the Chinese problems, but what about now? We have lost our speed and our power. The Chinese players now are faster, more ferocious and more powerful. The aging of our players also meant the lack of advance of our styles.
"Several years ago I wanted to develop players even better than Saive. We formed a youth team, and several times I took it to China to train. We spent the most time in Tianjin, and the improvements were major. But as soon as the players went back to Belgium, they reverted to practicing twice a week, and spent most of the time in school. The techniques they learned in China were quickly forgotten. These national junior champions are now amateur players. If Belgium is like this with me there, you can imagine what is happening in the other European countries. I was brought up in China. I know very well that there are no other country with such great training conditions as China", Wang said.