(CHINA TOPPED EVERY TABLE TENNIS MEDAL TALLY
(AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES SINCE THE SPORT
(MADE ITS OLYMPIC DEBUT IN SEOUL, 1988)
(TEAM CHINA HAS SINCE WON 28 OUT OF THE 32
(OLYMPIC TABLE TENNIS GOLD MEDALS ON OFFER)
(THEIR CLOSES RIVAL, SOUTH KOREA, HAS WON
(A TOTAL OF 18 OLYMPIC MEDALS IN TABLE TENNIS)
(WHILE CHINA HAS 53)
(28 GOLD)
(17 SILVER)
(8 BRONZE)
There are 300 million people playing table tennis,
and in China, 80 million people
playing table tennis at the moment.
Nearly one-third of the table tennis population worldwide
is from China.
I believe that in the case of table tennis,
the talent pool in China is massive.
There is also a sophisticated talent identification system
in place to spot top talent at a very young age.
Let me give you an example.
In Beijing alone,
there is a year-long table tennis tournament
called the Harmony Cup.
This tournament begins in January every year.
A total of 2.8 million players take part in this tournament.
The tournament organisers even applied
for a Guinness World Record five years ago.
Mass participation provides the sport
with an excellent infrastructure
to organically unearth top talent.
The highly competitive environment also further offers
a natural selection of the finest players.
At the moment,
there are 20,000 competitive young players in China.
(CHINA TABLE TENNIS COLLEGE, SHANGHAI)
(THE ONLY COLLEGE WORLDWIDE DEDICATED SOLELY TO
(THE PURSUIT AND STUDY OF TABLE TENNIS)
To be great at table tennis, one has to start young,
at about five or six years old
My mother had asked me what I was interested in learning.
My first response was table tennis.
When I was three,
my grandma gave me a very small table tennis racket.
She held my hand and taught me to hold the racket.
By first grade, I knew I wanted to be a table tennis player.
I have a coach who is from my hometown.
My hometown is in Changshu, Jiangsu province.
Once when he was visiting home,
he saw me playing table tennis and saw the potential in me.
So he transferred me to this training centre.
I am currently training at the China Table Tennis College.
My dream is to become a world champion
and an Olympic champion as well.
(THE SYSTEM FOR SELECTING YOUNG TALENT
(IS THE WHOLE NATION SPORT SYSTEM,
(A MULTI-TIERED GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRACY
(THAT EXTENDS FROM CHINA'S MAJOR CITIES
(DOWN TO THE MOST REMOTE VILLAGES.
(ITS PRIMARY GOAL IS TO IDENTIFY YOUNG TALENT
(LIKE YIN TIANYUE AND PRODUCE WORLD CHAMPIONS)
Table tennis has benefited the most
from the state sports system.
The Chinese table tennis team
has three levels of training system.
The first level is the sports school.
The second level is the provincial team.
The last level is the national team.
A table tennis phenom does not appear out of nowhere.
It takes a step-by-step nurturing process
to gradually shape them for their success.
A unique characteristic of the Chinese table tennis system
is the multitude of athletes the association oversees.
From amateur sports schools,
to provincial teams, to national teams
and the national A-team and those who eventually qualify
for the Olympic Games and World Championships.
It is a highly integrated pathway to success
for anyone capable of progressing from
the amateur to elite level.
This is a wonderful system.
From the International Table Tennis Federation,
to table tennis enthusiasts around the world,
China remains the innovation hub for the sport.
The amount of innovation capital is the highest.
From equipment innovation,
to inventing new techniques and tactics,
we are at the forefront.
So for us to be able to reach the top of this sport
and to have remained as a leader of the sport
for so many years,
the spirit of innovation is our ultimate secret weapon.
Near 2000, we have statistics that show
61% of the worldwide table tennis innovation,
techniques and tactics are from China.
We have never stopped innovating.
And we are constantly pushing boundaries,
and to avoid staying in our comfort zones.
The spirit of innovation is core to our training culture,
we are always thinking and advocating innovation.
Many years ago, the main table tennis techniques in the world
were the pen-hold technique or chopping technique.
Those were once special techniques
and remained dominant for a while.
The champions would play with those techniques,
and players who picked up those techniques
were simply superior. However, in men's singles,
the pen-hold technique actually evolved.
Chinese players like Wang Hao and Ma Lin
had actively reinvented the technique.
They may have never achieved what they have
without evolving.
But because of their relentless spirit of innovation,
they are able to remain at the top of the sport.
In recent times,
the most common technique is the pen-hold technique.
I was the first player
to use the reverse pen-hold backhand technique
at international table tennis tournaments.
Still, that was just a beginning.
Later on, Ma Lin and Wang Hao,
especially Wang Hao, perfected it
into an advanced technique.
In the early days, players like
Jiang Jialiang, who couldn't execute
the pen-hold backhand attack technique,
would have a relatively passive approach in their game.
I was a pioneer when the technique was invented,
and Wang Hao's generation perfected it.
Our continual success relies on
the generational efforts in innovation.
Regarding the future of Chinese table tennis,
I'm not concerned about the results.
I'm more concerned
about its popularity amongst the youth,
as well as the worldwide promotion of the game.
This is a more pressing problem.
We have already recognised this crisis,
and so we have been actively promoting table tennis
throughout the country, as well as other continents
including Africa, North and South America.
We also send athletes and coaches
for sparring and training.
Our hope is that table tennis can captivate and
appeal to the younger generations.
What is the most important for such country
with the superiority in one sport?
We have to have an open mind to this sport.
We cannot close the door
into our home,
to covet players
to do ourselves
and then you control the world.
That is bad.
We would like produce a kind of a world centre
of the table tennis in China.
We would like to attract more and more
the world elite players coming to China.
I very much prefer this spirit
of a National Basketball Association,
to attract most of the elite basketball players
into the United States.
After experiencing this association activity at NBA,
they will improve automatically
and then they will return,
like Spanish basketball players,
like Brazilian basketball players,
like Argentine basketball players,
back to their countries,
representing their country, their association
to play in Olympic Games.
In order for China to be genuinely integrated
with the world,
China needs to bring its outstanding players, coaches,
and the successful table tennis culture and
other ingredients of success
and share them with the world.
Otherwise, the rest of the world will
continue to lag behind in the resources needed
to successfully compete against China.