Table tennis' legendary duo jointly take charge of all-conquering Chinese national teams (2)

"We were called up to the junior national team in the same year when we were 13, but two years before we became nationals, we had known each other in some national events," recalled Kong, a most popular paddler with Chinese supporters even years after he retired.

"Kong and I have always been a pack. In the past 26 years, we've been through a lot together," said Liu. "When we were players, we trained together, played all kinds of matches together, sometime against each other and sometimes combined as a pair. For all those years, We've shared so many memories, joy and tears."

In 1995, the two helped China claim the world men's team crown and several days later they squared off for the singles title. Just at that time, Kong claimed his first men's singles world championship at 20 in Tianjin, but had to wait five years to bring in his Olympic gold medal in Sydney.

Liu's grand slam was completed in the 1999 world championships in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, as he won the men's singles final against younger teammate Ma Lin, though he said he performed just 70 percent of his top form as in 1996 when he took the Olympic gold and World Cup title.

The two good friends parted their ways in 2003 when Liu, who was trusted by table tennis authorities and his mentors, made a brilliant triple jump from assistant coach to coach to the youngest head coach ever on the Chinese team, while tenacious Kong continued his player career.

In the 2004 Athens Olympics, Kong made his third Olympic appearance, while Liu experienced his biggest test as newly combined Ma Lin and Chen Qi claimed the doubles gold but upbeat Wang Hao fell to South Korean Ryu Seung Min in the singles final.

For the following years, Liu led the Chinese men's side to have conquered all, including two clean sweep in both the 2008 Beijing Games on home soil and the most recent London Olympics, while Kong acted as a player/coach assisting Liu before he called it a quit in late 2006 and turned a trainer to coach the women's side.

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