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Coach
Reshuffle Shows Determination |
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After a month-long speculation, China State General
Administration for Sports (CSGAS) announced on Tuesday that multi-world and
Olympic champion Liu Guoliang will keep his job as the head coach of the
men's team, while former world champion Shi Zhihao will take the place of Lu
Yuansheng as the head coach for the women's team. Fang Wen and Han Hua have been appointed head coaches of the
men's and women's reserve teams respectively. The tenure for the head coaches are three years until 2008,
while for Fang and Han, they have only one year to prove themselves. But, according to Cai Zhenhua, director of the National Table
Tennis and Badminton Administration Centre, the appointment does not mean the
two head coaches have no pressure before 2008. "We choose the bidding process for the head coaches in an
effort to have better preparations for 2008," Cai said. "Both head
coaches have to take tests in a series of major competitions before 2008. If
the teams do not give good results, the administration centre has the right
to sack them." Eight top Chinese table tennis coaches from national and
regional teams started their bids for four posts on the national team last
month. It is the first-ever head coach bid in China. It replaces the
traditional system that dominated domestic table tennis for the past 30 years
in which top coaches were directly appointed by the CSGAS. "Our goal with public selection is to enhance the national
team ahead of the Beijing Olympics," said Cai, also an assistant
director of the CSGAS. "We are offering a fair and open environment for
all the coaches in China. That's the key to guaranteeing a successful
performance on our doorstep three years from now." Cai said the debut race this year is a test of the new system,
which will be operating in the future. "Now, it's just a try," said Cai at a press
conference. "We will conduct the race annually and I hope we could
select all the coaches of national teams through this open process." Tasks ahead Both head coaches expressed their plan for the 2008 preparations
and believed shouldering such tasks is an honour as well as pressure. "I will explore more ways to improve skills during the
training," Liu said. "By 2008, the key players of men's team are
nearing 30 years old. So it is a problem we have to solve in order to keep
their form before the Olympics." Liu also added the team will build up the efforts in the
management of young players. "We will try to prevent the youngster from being emerged in
Internet games," Liu said. "Compared to foreign players, the Chinese men have no
advantage in skills, so we have to be focused on details in the coming three
years." It is the first time for Shi to take the helm of a team, and the
pressure on him is even greater considering the women's glorious
achievements. "It is easy to coach a deteriorating team. But the Chinese
women's team are, for the most part, on top of the world. It is tough,"
Shi said, adding that South Korea continues to be China's major rival in the
next few years. The former world champion noted that the two Koreas have decided
to form a joint delegation to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Korean paddlers
are therefore expected to pose a major threat to their Chinese peers,
especially in the team competition. China has taken centre stage in the sport since Rong Guotuan won
China's first-ever world championship at the 25th World Table Tennis
Championships in Dortmund, Germany in 1959. China swept titles in two Olympic
Games in Atlanta and Sydney and won three out of four titles in Athens Games
last year. (China Daily December 8, 2005) |