The Hindu : Sport / Table Tennis : India to field nine-member team

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 01, 2005

Sport

Sport - Table Tennis

India to field nine-member team

SHANGHAI: A nine-member team, including four women, will represent India in the 48th World table tennis championship here. This edition of the championship will have only individual events.

The top two women players of the country — Poulami Ghatak and Mouma Das — have opted out.

With the championships back in China for the first time in 10 years, the home team looks unbeatable, putting together an awesome array of talent for the event.

The men's drive for singles glory will be spearheaded by world No. 1 Wang Liqin, Athens Olympic doubles gold medallists Ma Lin and Chen Qi, singles silver medallist Wang Hao and Sydney Olympic champion Kong Linghui.

Liu Guozheng and teenager Hao Shuai make up the squad.

They have a point to prove after a below-par performance at the Athens Olympics saw Rye Seung-Min of South Korea defeat Wang Hao to take the coveted singles title.

They are also out to avenge Werner Schlager of Austria who won the World championship title last year in Dubai.

In fact, China is without a men's singles world title since Wang Liqin won in 2001 in Japan.

``The priority is to retake the men's singles crown at any cost,'' said Cai Zhenhua, director of China's Administrative Centre of Table Tennis and Badminton.

``Fans won't accept another modest display for the most keenly-awaited title, particularly on home turf.''

Work cut out

They have their work cut out though with tough challenges expected from European big shots Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus and German prodigy Timo Boll, as well as an improving cache of players from South Korea.

Sweden's veteran team of all-stars led by Jan-Ove Waldner will also be in the hunt.

``The chance of us beating the Chinese is slim, although Waldner, the legend, is capable of beating anyone,'' said Sweden coach Peter Sterneborg.

Liu Guoliang, head coach of China's men's team, said his squad was injury-free and raring to go.

``Ma and Wang Liqin are major title contenders and other young players also have some chances,'' he told Chinese media.

On the women's side, China is equally strong, boasting Olympic champion Zhang Yining, world No. 2 and Sydney Olympic champion Wang Nan, Guo Yue, Niu Jianfeng, Guo Yan, Fan Ying and Cao Zhen.

Along with the singles stars, 13 Chinese pairs will fight for doubles and mixed doubles titles.

While some degree of success is virtually guaranteed, too much success is worrying for the sport's powerbrokers.

After years of Chinese dominance, the International Table Tennis Federation in recent years has stepped in and introduced specific measures many believe are intended to weaken their formidable paddlers.

In 2000, the size of the ball was enlarged and the play speed, one of the Chinese players' deadliest weapons, was vastly slowed.

China fears it could happen again, a move they do not want with the Beijing Olympics barely three years away and high expectations on the home team to dominate.

``It would be unfavourable for us for the 2008 Beijing Olympics,'' said men's team coach Liu. — Agencies

The Indian team:

Men: Achanta Sharath Kamal, Soumyadeep Roy, Subhajit Saha, Sourav Chakraborty and Anirban Nandy.

Women: V. Vijay, Mamta Ashok Prabhu, Nandita Saha and Kasturi Chakrborty.

Managers: Vipul Mitra and Geeta Tandon. Coaches: Bhawani Mukherjee, Hubert Hustache Technical official: Dhanraj Choudhary.

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