China's table tennis chief relieves players' Olympic gold sweeping pressure

WEIHAI, China - Liu Guoliang, president of the Chinese table tennis association (CTTA), hopes the all-conquering Chinese team can rule out the burden of sweeping gold medals in the final stage of its Tokyo Olympics preparation.

"The Olympic Games are the same for everyone, and we will start from zero in Tokyo," he told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

The Chinese team has just concluded a four-day warmup in the east Chinese city of Weihai, with Olympic-bound players winning titles in the mixed doubles and both team events.

"It served as a test midway through our training. Competing with a more specific target, our players can feel the competitiveness of the games and dig out problems," said Liu.

For the sport's icon in China, the past 20 days of training in Weihai is designed to focus on improving the players' ability and strength.

Liu revealed the Chinese side would have another warmup between July 8 and 10 before heading to the Tokyo Olympics.

Talking about the star-studded team's prospect in Tokyo, the home court of its main rivals team Japan, Liu said, "it can give us more motivation, as we need a strong opponent to test our squad."

"We have the ability and confidence in contending for all five golds, but there are challenges and risks as well, especially considering the pace and manner of preparation is quite different in the COVID-19 pandemic, so we cannot use our past experience in preparing for this Games," admitted Liu.

"We are confident and will go all out for the gold medal in each event. Ups and downs, wins or losses, are part of the sport.

"I don't want to give my players too much pressure," he noted. "They need to keep a stable mindset and showcase what they have trained. We try to win every gold, so there is no difference in terms of the extent of risks in each event."

Some Chinese players, including women's singles participants Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha, are poised to embrace their Olympic debut.

"There are debutants in every Olympic Games, and some can play quite well in their first Olympic appearance. Everything is about your mentality. If you handle it well, you won't have too much burden."

"I hope that our players and coaches will not have a burden of sweeping Olympic gold medals like in previous occasions. The Olympic Games are no different, no matter for China, Japan or teams from Europe. We cannot put what we achieved in Rio into this Games, and we have to start from zero in Tokyo," said Liu.

The Chinese table tennis chief emphasized that the final stage preparation is mainly about adjusting physical shape and mentality and fitting into the games.

"As the Olympic Games are approaching, athletes will have a clearer vision of it. They need to undergo a process in their mentality transition and try to find their rhythm in preparation," he commented.