China Unveiled Table Tennis Team for Beijing
June 18, 2008

Zhang Yining

Courtesy of Reuters BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Tuesday unveiled a table tennis squad who will be disappointed by anything less than a sweep of all four golds at the Beijing Olympics in August. The six players and two alternates dominate the world rankings and have together notched up ten medals over the past two Olympics.

Anchoring the men's team is Wang Hao, the top player in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) world rankings and silver medalist in the men's singles at the Athens Games in 2004.

Zhang Yining, who took gold in both singles and doubles in Athens, will lead the women's team from her position as world number one.

Nipping at their heels at the August 8-24 Beijing Games will be the world's second-ranked man, Ma Lin, and second-ranked woman, Guo Yue.

Wang Liqing and Wang Nan, known as the big brother and big sister of Chinese table tennis, will fill out the front three, both playing in their third Olympics.

Firepower in reserve will come from substitutes Chen Qi for the men and Li Xiaoxia for the women.

Li and Guo are the only two on the squad to have not won medals at previous Games, though not through any failing on their part. The two women will both be 20 years old when the Olympics take place.

(Reporting by Simon Rabinovitch, Editing by Clare Fallon)