Ready to seize their golden opportunity
But China's all-conquering paddlers braced for Olympics like no other as pandemic brings new challenges to the table
As the world's undisputed table tennis powerhouse, Team China has made no secret of its desire to sweep all five gold medals on offer at the Tokyo Olympics.
Under normal circumstances, that would be no mean feat. However, the addition of what the Chinese team has described as "extremely difficult" COVID-19 health and safety regulations has made that task even harder to accomplish.
With training camp and warm-up matches wrapping up in Weihai, Shandong province last weekend, the Chinese squad is currently gathering in Beijing to make its final preparations for the unprecedented challenges that await in Japan.
"The buildup to these Olympic Games has actually been extremely difficult. There have been so many challenges and problems. And there will likely be more difficulties that are beyond our expectation in Tokyo," Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA) president Liu Guoliang told China Central Television on Tuesday.
"We didn't expect some of the epidemic rules that have been announced. For example, players will not be allowed to wipe the game table with their hands, or blow on the ball. So what we need to do now is let our athletes adjust to these changes and make sure they will not be distracted by stuff like this.
"We need to allow the athletes to fight back when they encounter unexpected obstacles. The most difficult part of the Olympics for table tennis players is actually the first two rounds, when they face fierce battles and possible elimination."
Grand Slam winner Ma Long leads the men's team, along with world No 1 Fan Zhendong and doubles specialist Xu Xin, currently ranked No 2 in singles.
A similarly strong women's team features world No 1 Chen Meng, third-ranked Sun Yingsha, and reigning singles world champion Liu Shiwen.
China has collected 28 out of the 32 gold medals on offer since the sport debuted at the Games in 1988, including three straight clean sweeps since the 2008 Games. Repeating the feat by claiming all five golds in Tokyo, however, will be far from easy.
