Foreigners benefit from nation's table tennis expertise

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By Lin Shujuan (China Daily) 13:47, November 24, 2023

Former Olympic and world champion Zhang Yining coaches students at Shanghai University of Sport's China Table Tennis College. GAO ERQIANG/CHINA DAILY

Shanghai college at the forefront of coaching efforts

For the past five years, Geoffrey Loi has been living his dream of being coached by his sports idol.

Loi, 23, a keen table tennis player from Papua New Guinea, has been under the watchful eye of Olympic and world champion Zhang Yining at Shanghai University of Sport's China Table Tennis College, or CTTC.

Jointly established by China's General Administration of Sport and the Shanghai Municipal Government in 2010, the CTTC is the only sports college in the world to focus on table tennis by emphasizing training, teaching and scientific research.

In November 2018, the college set up a training center in Papua New Guinea. To mark its establishment, Grand Slam winner Zhang and world champion Shi Zhihao visited the center to coach local players. During the visit, Loi, a player on the Papua New Guinea national team, had his first in-person meeting with Zhang.

Loi, who started to play table tennis as an 8-year-old in 2008, when Zhang was in her prime sweeping gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, said he grew up watching videos of Zhang and her national teammates playing the sport.

"I liked the way she played, and was inspired by her skills and technique. Everything she did was just wonderful," he said.

Loi added that he was so nervous during his first encounter with Zhang, that he struggled to show how he played. Zhang recalls Loi being shy on the occasion, but she saw that he had a passion for table tennis and was eager to improve his game.

Zhang coaches Geoffrey Loi, a player from Papua New Guinea. GAO ERQIANG/CHINA DAILY

Soon after this encounter, Loi and his teammates visited the CTTC in Shanghai to receive training as part of their preparations for the Pacific Games in 2019, at which the Papua New Guinea table tennis team won two silver medals, the best result to date in its history.

Since then, Loi has continued to travel to the Shanghai college to be trained by Zhang and several other former world champions. In the past five years, his world ranking has risen from below 600 to about 160th.

"I'm lucky to be trained by the Chinese champions," said Loi, who is not the only foreigner to be given such an opportunity.

Regular visitor

Layan Neumann, a professional table tennis player from Mexico, has also been a regular visitor to the Shanghai center, where training sessions are taken by world and national champions such as Yan Sen and Feng Zhe, and Chen Bing, deputy dean of the CTTC and coach to world champion Ding Ning, among others.

Neumann, 23, who lives in Mexico City, had longed to come to China, where table tennis is the national sport, since he was 14, when he experienced his first major defeat — by an 11-year-old Chinese girl.

"She looked so young, and her height barely reached my shoulder," he said.

Despite being a frequent winner at international tournaments, Neumann received the same advice every time he lost: "You should go to China!"

When international borders reopened after the COVID-19 pandemic, he seized the first opportunity he could to travel to the country.

He practices three to four days a week at the CTTC, mostly with the 20 or so school-age players at the institution, who come from across the country and are aiming to excel at the sport.

Most of them are about the same age as the Chinese girl who defeated Neumann nine years ago, but some are even younger — the youngest is still 6.

Layan Neumann (right), a player from Mexico, Wang Tianrui (center), a player from Nantong, Jiangsu province, and a fellow student listen to instructions from Zhang. GAO ERQIANG/CHINA DAILY

However, Neumann said he has nothing to complain about.

"I've learned more from the young kids than from older, experienced players. It's really helpful to see how the coach teaches these kids and helps them practice new skills," he said.

"It is no exaggeration to say that three minutes' advice from a coach on a certain skill can save me two years of practice time," he said.

The college training camp is also open to international students such as Kristof Taubert, who is studying for a master's in sport, business and law at the University of Bayreuth in Germany.

Taubert is also undertaking a six-month exchange program at Shanghai University. He was introduced to the training program at the CTTC by his coach on a basic table tennis course at Shanghai University.

Training with the young CTTC players twice a week, Taubert said: "The training is very professional. We train longer and harder in Shanghai than back in Germany, which is very motivating for me."

Talent cultivation