ITTF president sees European hope as China sweeps yearend

Adham Sharara, president of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), don't think there's no chance for Europe to challenge China while singing high praise for Chinese paddlers' play in the yearend table tennis tournament.

China made a second consecutive clean sweep in the 240,000 US dollars ITTF Pro Tour finals in Beijing on December 12, as Wang Liqin continued a three-year streak in the tournament, beating teammate Ma Lin 4-1 (11-8, 11-8, 3-11, 11-9, 11-4) to win the men's singles, and promising teenager Guo Yue as well as Olympic champions Ma Lin/Chen Qi and Wang Nan/Zhang Yining came out with the three other titles.

"Now the level of Chinese players are very very high, even they play against each other in the final, fans of table tennis will find it attractive since they can play very very well.

But from exciting point of view it's always better when two different countries play against each other," said Sharara when watching the all-Chinese finals.

He admitted that China's dominance in table tennis is what he has been worrying about.

"It (China's dominance in this sport) takes for a long time. It 's not a very good thing," said Sharara. "At the moment, China, especially the women, they are very very dominant and they're discouraging the other countries, because they feel no chance to win.

"But the solution is the other countries must work harder, must include more talented people and must train harder, so they can have the better result."

Asked if there's any chance for Europe to challenge China like that in mid-1990s, the president mentioned a European player, Michael Maze from Denmark, and said him a promising. "He and Timo Boll both are quite young. I think they can still prove a lot and can be big challenge for China."

The Dane became an Olympic men's doubles bronze medallist in Athens together with his compatriot Finn Tugwell, and made it to quarters here by overcoming former Chinese national Chen Weixing before being ousted by China's established star Ma Lin.

"Last year, (the men's singles title of) the Paris World Championships was won by Schlager, and the Olympics in Athens was won by Ryu Seung Min from (South) Korea, so you can see that

Chinese men players lost two big important tournaments," said Sharara.

"But in this tournament here, they are playing very very strong," he added. "I think they are improving their technique, they are improving the physical condition and they are playing even when the methods are very close, they know how to win the match. "This is the difference now between Europeans and Chinese players, and the Chinese players are playing very very hard at the

end of the game."

Sharara don't think changing rules is the best method for the future of table tennis. He said: "There's more methods like TV to make the sport more attractive. I know that in China many people think the rule changes were made against China. It's not true. Tomake the changes is meant to make the sport more spectacular and more interesting for the spectators."

Source: Xinhua