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Darling boy shines
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Yang Yunfei
CHINA regained the men's team gold medal after thrashing unfancied Belgium 3-0 at the 46th World Table Tennis Championships at the Osaka Central Gymnasium on Sunday.
It was China's 13th team title at the championships and it was a particularly sweet one for the Chinese paddlers, who had narrowly lost the Swaythling Cup, the men's trophy, to their long-standing arch-rivals Sweden in the 2000 championships.
In an unequal contest, the Belgians, coached by Chinese national Wang Dayong who sang along to the Chinese anthem with the Chinese team at the award ceremony, had actually caused very little trouble to the Chinese and never really threatened.
"The reason we could get the Swaythling Cup back was not just technique, we had fighting spirit, very good fighting spirit," said head coach Cai Zhenhua, "I am really happy to get the cup back".
In fact, it was the fighting spirit and determination shown in the fifth match of a cliff-hanging semifinal against South Korea on Saturday by China's Liu Guozheng that ensured China's final appearance.
The up-and-comig Liu has become the talk of the championships and the darling of many Chinese women fans, some of whom had reportedly gone so far as to post messages on some Chinese Websites saying that they wanted to marry a guy like Liu, after he saved an astonishing seven match points in his golden victory over South Korean number one Kim Taek-soo to give the Chinese a decisive 3-2 victory that took the Chinese team to the final.
In a showdown described by Chinese coach Li Xiaodong as the most exciting match he had seen in more than 10 years, a super-charged South Korea came desperately close to knocking the Chinese out after Olympic singles champion and world number two Kong Linghui lost twice.
The South Koreans, led by number nine Kim Taek-soo, twice came within a single point of winning and were thwarted only by the steel nerves of sixth-ranked Liu.
Li Furong, vice-president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, described the Liu-Kim match as unprecedented and stated that it would not happen again in the near future.
"The match today was won by the team with the highest mental strength. Of course I rate Liu as the best and he is the pride of China," said Li, a world champion in the 1960s.
Cai Zhenhua, who said that it was the closest and the most exciting match he had seen in his 11-year-old career as head coach, seemed overjoyed with Liu's hard-fought victory.
"I am so happy, really happy. I cannot express my feeling in words," he told a post-match press conference.
"Hats off to my players. They are great, especially Liu," Cai said adding that he also gave praise to the South Koreans. "We were both winners today."
"Liu Guozheng saved my life," said Olympic champion Kong. "I would regret for the rest of my life if China had lost because of me."
But for the 21-year-old Liu, the match was just another competition that needed to be won.
"Of course there was pressure on me. But Kim also had the same pressure on him. This is a team event and of course when it comes down to the last set tension will be high."
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