China ‘still world’s best but watch out for Japan’, says table tennis chief after Olympic showdown
China are still best in the world at table tennis but they need to watch out for Japan who are catching up, the head of the sport’s world governing body has warned.
China are still best in the world at table tennis but they need to watch out for Japan who are catching up, the head of the sport’s world governing body has warned.
Thomas Weiker, president of the International Table Tennis Federation, made the remarks after watching China dominate in Rio this week – winning Olympic gold in men’s singles, men’s team, women’s singles and women’s team. Chinese players also took silver in men’s singles and women’s singles.
Japan lost 1-3, winning the singles match when Jun Mizutani went up against world number three Xu Xin.
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“Very good future for the Japanese team in Tokyo,” Weiker continued. “They have a table tennis tradition. Nobody knows what will happen in four years. I think the Japanese will work also on other sports for the Olympics and there will be amazing tournaments there. I guess the gap will be closer.”
Asked if he believed China’s dominance was under threat, Weiker said: “I don’t think immediately, maybe we will see closer matches in Tokyo, but at the moment they are really dominating.”
“Let me tell everyone this in advance — I am ready to retire when I am back [to China]. Don’t be too emotional, everyone. It’s just too exhausting for me. I have already achieved all I can possibly achieve, why should I keep playing?” he said in a live broadcast on Chinese social media.
“There is a day I have to retire. I can’t play until I am 50 years old,” said Zhang, who won gold in singles and team table tennis at the 2012 London Olympics.
Meanwhile, Weikert said he has not heard of any complaints from Rio Olympics table tennis players that the balls used at the Games were “very bad” or “sub-par” as the reported earlier.
