China eyes table tennis gold sweep in Athens: official

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, October 25, 2003

China eyes table tennis gold sweep in Athens: official

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Defending champions China are aiming to have a clean sweep of all the four gold medals on offer in the table tennis event at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, said vice president of Chinese Table Tennis Association Yao Zhenxu Friday in Changsha.

"I think the players and coaches should try their best to grab all the titles," said Yao, who also chairs the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Technical Committee, on his visit to Changsha, the capital city of Hunan province for the ongoing Chinese 5th City Games. "The only goal for Chinese table tennis players in international competitions is victory."

"But there is a change in the rules at the Athens Games, which requires doubles players from the same country or region put into the same half of the draw," said Yao. "Under the new rule, it is not possible for Chinese pairs to meet in the final, which is sure to add spice to the competition. But at the same time, it takes us more efforts to win."

China, chalking up all four golds in the 2000 Sydney Games, have secured two berths in each of the singles event at the 2004 Games as the ITTF announced that players within top 20 in the world rankings issued in May 25 this year would win direct qualification for the Games.

Chinese men's players occupied six spots within top 20 in the world rankings released right after the world championships in Paris in May while 10 positions in women's rankings belonged to China.

Since there are only two players in each event from the same country or region allowed direct Olympic qualifications, China have to fight for the third and last berths both for men's and women's events in the Asian zone qualifiers in April next year.

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