European sojourn could transform Leung, says Chan

Hong Kong men's table tennis coach Chan Kong-wah claims spending this autumn in Europe could be what turns Leung Chu-yan into one of the world's top players. While the rest of Leung's Hong Kong teammates have joined up with mainland teams, Chan, who has lived in Germany for the past 17 years, arranged for Leung to compete in the Bundesliga and enter the European legs of the Pro Tour series.

That policy paid dividends last weekend when the 24-year-old reached his first ever Pro Tour singles final.

'It's confidence. He needs much more confidence. I think after this season in the Bundesliga he will improve. It's a good possibility to learn. He's alone, which will be good for him. Without a coach he will need to think more,' said Chan.

After two years hovering in the 50s in the world ranking, this year Leung has charged up the standings from 46th to his current career-high 24th. On the way he's beaten reigning world champion Werner Schlager and current European champion Vladimir Samsonov. In Denmark last week he claimed his first victory over another top European Alexei Smirnov, and soundly thrashed Taiwan's world number six Chuan Chih-yuan. However, Chan believes losing the final to Denmark's Michael Maze showed a frailty in Leung's mentality.

'He's strong enough to beat these players, but in the important moments he has a little bit of a problem. I expected him, and most people expected him to win. He played so well against Chuan and he had beaten Maze so easily in the Olympics,' Chan reasoned.

'He has to improve his stability, It's very important for him in the future. This point is very weak for him. In the Polish Open he lost in the first round to someone I'd never even heard of [Martin Olejnik of the Czech Republic] and then four or five days later he is beating so many good players in Denmark.'