China Finds its Weak Points in World Championships

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, May 26, 2003

China Finds its Weak Points in World Championships

The loss of the men's singles title has exposed the weak points of China and diluted their joy of winning four gold medals from the world table tennis championships here.

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The loss of the men's singles title has exposed the weak points of China and diluted their joy of winning four gold medals from the world table tennis championships in Paris.

The table tennis giant found that their players had failed to play properly when taking lead at big matches, which cost dear their title campaign.

Four top players, including Olympic champion Kong Linghui and world champion Wang Liqing, were all eliminated from the championships after blowing away their leads in the matches.

"We are yet to find the right way of handling the situation when taking lead under the 11-point scoring system,"said Li Furong,chef de mission of the Chinese delegation for the championships. "We need to address this problem in the future."

Yin Xiao, men's singles coach, said after Kong's defeat in the semifinals that the lead slipped away partly due to the players' mental pressure.

"In several big matches involving Chinese players, we were not daring enough, while foreign players play with free mind.

"We failed to play aggressively when we should, this made difference," he said.

Austrian Werner Schlager, newly crowned at the just-concluded world championships, also pointed out that high pressure had led to Chinese failures in their title bid.

"You have to be free in mind to play very good table tennis," he said.

Alarming bells also rung for China to attach more importance to the development of defensive players, a warning delivered by South Korean Joo Se Hyuk.

The Korean chopped his way to the final at the cost of a string of big names, including Ma Lin currently ranked second in the world.

Chinese head coach Cai Zhenhua admitted that they were not mentally and technically prepared for the defensive players who had seldom made impact in major events for almost three decades.

"We used to have a lot of ways to handle the choppers, but now we are more comfortable with the attacking game.

He stressed the necessity of finding the solutions as Joo and other defensive players is expected to compete at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

"We need to have a good study of the defensive game, trying to develop various playing styles," he said.

While reviewing the problems exposed in the world championships, China remains upbeat about taking the challenges posed by the new scoring system.

"Judging from the championships, the rule change has affected our performances, but it is not a big problem, which was evidenced by what we've achieved at the championships," said chef de mission Li.

Despite the loss of men's singles gold, China swept all the other four titles on offer at the championships.

"However the rules might be changed, we will be fully able to meet the challenges," said Li.

"The Olympics is one year to go, we will try to win back the men's singles title at 2004 Olympics," he said.

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