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China stars feeling the heat

Tom Hilditch

Table tennis is a pressure game. And for China's men's team, taking the nation's favourite game to both the World Team Championships and the Olympics this year, anxiety is running high.

A month ago, in the kind of disciplinary action most people presumed had vanished with Mao suits, four young players were expelled from the national team for 'conducting romances'.

They included Bai Ying, reportedly the 19-year old girlfriend of world number one player Ma Lin, and 17-year old Fan Ying, the girlfriend of world number nine Wang Hao.

Even more surprising was that Liu Gouliang, the team's progressive and, at just 28, youngest coach ever appears to have been behind the move. Liu was easily the greatest player of his generation; a double Olympic gold medal winner and one of just three players in the history of the game to win a Grand Slam. As a competitor the Chinese press nicknamed him 'Pillar of Strength' for his lethal calm. But as a coach there are doubts.

Under his tutelage, the men's team remain number one, but they are no longer all-conquering. In recent months the women's team have been bringing home far more medals. And as the Olympics approach there is a growing concern that the demands made by China on its table tennis players is unreasonably intense.

Everyone in Xiamen knows the national team are in town. Like a touring rock super-group, the team rolled in with their own auxiliary staff, medical team, 10 coaches and over 40 players.

They also brought their own Olympic quality floor, security personnel and political banners. They are here because they want to train on the same latitude as Doha in Qatar, host city for the World Team Championships commencing on March 1.

Never mind that it's a sunny 32 degrees Celsius in Doha and nearly snowing in Xiamen. The point is that when it comes to helping China win at what since the 1980's has been nicknamed Guo Qiu (national sport) the whole nation is at their disposal.

Groups of local schoolchildren loiter outside Xiamen Stadium's attached Sports Hotel eyeing the entourages as they move from lobby to limo, hoping to get an autograph from one of the current players or, better yet, snag one of the legends who have since turned to coaching. No other game holds China's attention quite like table tennis.

According to Ma Lin: 'Table tennis is to China what football is to Brazil.' And as he steps out of the hotel, dressed in a black shell suit, simply emblazoned with one red word: 'China', he is swarmed by schoolchildren.

Their wide-eyed adulation and clamouring demands, another reminder of the greater expectations of the nation.The stadium itself, where the team train daily, has been closed off to the public. Po-faced guards are stationed at the doorways and extra curtains have been draped over windows and doors. Visitors are brought in through a system of drapes so that at no point are the players visible to any public areas.

Heaven forbid the wrong person should get a glance at the latest killer serve. Once inside, however, you realise you have already been here.

Or at least seen this interior in Forrest Gump or the countless documentaries about Nixon's ping-pong diplomacy. For nothing seems to have changed. The floor (especially brought down from Beijing) is still red. The tables (also from Beijing) are still blue. And, despite these days of cozy sports taglines, the banners which flutter around the stadium walls are still jarringly cold war: 'Smash the opposition' shrieks one. 'Strive vigorously as a team' demands another. 'Acquire glory for the motherland', 'Ensure Morality' and 'Terminate and Destroy'.

At 10.30am China's version of Pele, Liu Guoliang, slouches in. His red shell suit cannot disguise the fact he is a tad overweight. The skinhead hairdo that wowed the girls back in his Olympic glory days in 1996 is now growing towards the lanky comb-over beloved of Chinese bureaucrats. He is also startlingly bereft of brand-names. His entire wardrobe, including Nanxia trainers, could be bought in Xiamen market for HK$500. 'Money is starting to flow into table tennis thanks to the Olympics,' he says, 'but that is not why we are here. China play as a team for the glory of the country.'

Liu says the reason that the Chinese have dominated table tennis is simple. 'China play as a team,' he says. 'Other nations play as individuals. That is why we win.'

He sweeps a lazy arm around the sports hall. 'What you have here is 50 years of accumulated talent. The older players coach the younger ones. Talent gets recycled and improved. We have at least 32 players at any one time to play each other. They are all world class. The Europeans can only manage to gather four or five top players in the same place. This gives us a huge advantage.'

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