Li Furong gives warning to table tennis worlds-bound players

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, February 24, 2004

Li Furong gives warning to table tennis worlds-bound players

A top Chinese sports official extended a serious warning to the Chinese table tennis players for the world team championships that nobody but themselves can defeat them.

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A top Chinese sports official extended a serious warning to the Chinese table tennis players for the world team championships that nobody but themselves can defeat them.

Li, deputy director of the State General Sports Administration, said: "If there are no problems inside the team, nobody in the world can defeat you. The only enemy is yourselves."

World top-ranked Ma Lin and multi-Olympic gold medalist Wang Nan will spearhead China's assaults at the world team championships slated for March 1-7 in Qatar.

Li, who won the team champion four times as a player from 1961-1973 and another four times as a coach from 1974 to 1983, said the competition is so important that any mistakes can affect the squad's confidence for the Athens Olympic Games.

"Winning the trophies can boost our confidence to win gold medals in the Athens Olympics," the 62-year-old said.

Li said China must be fully prepared to overcome all the difficulties that they can face in the biennial event.

"We have a strong squad and winning the champions is possible if we play our best," Li said.

Chinese head coach Cai Zhenhua named World Cup holder Ma Lin, world second-ranked Wang Liqin, No. 12 and Sydney Olympic champion Kong Linghui, No. 3 Wang Hao and No. 9 Liu Guozheng in the men's team and filled the women's five slots with world No. 2 Wang Nan, No. 1 Zhang Yining, No. 3 Niu Jianfeng, No. 8 Liu Ju and No. 5 GuoYue.

The Chinese men are pitted against South Korea, Austria, France, Japan and Italy in Group A in the men's championship division. Group B, the only other championship group, include Chinese Taipei, Sweden, Germany, Hong Kong of China, Russia and Belgium.

Only the top two finishers in championship division group have chance for gold.

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