Paris Olympics: Hong Kong table tennis coach backing players to secure Games spot at World Team Championships
- Li Ching believes men’s and women’s teams can finish in top eight in South Korea
- Li is only acting head coach by wants to job on a permanent basis and believes he’s most qualified to do it
Hong Kong table tennis coach Li Ching is backing the city’s players to secure their spots at the Paris Olympics by finishing in the top eight of the World Team Championships.
The acting head coach, who replaced the retiring Chan Kong-wah, also said he was the best candidate to lead the team on a permanent basis.
The championships in Busan, South Korea, start in a week’s time and run until February 25.
“We have reached the quarter-finals before so I have confidence, it’s not about any individual but the team effort,” Li told reporters on Thursday. “We can achieve that or even go after a medal if the players can perform on the match day.
“The good news is that [men’s player] Wong Chun-ting has been much better and more mature over the last six months, and the strategy for the women’s team is to have each of the players get a point, so as to reduce their pressure.”
Hong Kong’s women have been grouped alongside Portugal, Austria, Australia and Kazakhstan, while the city’s men’s team face some harder ties against Sweden, Slovakia, Puerto Rico and Serbia.