There's a decent, if not quite camera-ready, English-language article at China.org.cn today about the results of this weekend's ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals event, the first of two back-to-back Olympic test events being held at the 2008 venue, the Peking (Beijing) Universiy Gymnasium. Wade through the choppy language and you'll get the point: with near-ownership of the sport, China will be hard pressed to decide which of its international stars to send to next year's Olympic Games. The level of play this weekend was fantastic and the crowds, particularly for Sunday's doubles finals, and singles semis and finals, were plentiful and vocal. The highlight was probably Ma Lin's victory over compatriot Wang Hao in the men's singles in the final match on Sunday evening, but every match on Sunday featured great playmaking and stunning saves. The Chinese don't quite understand why we Americans don't exactly regard ping-pong as a superstar-making sport; as Ma Lin, currently ranked second in the world, said in answer to a question at one of his early press conferences, "In America the NBA is very influential; but in China, ping pong is as influential as the NBA is in America."
So the hottest ticket in town is the one to the Olympic table tennis tournament - for the Chinese athletes. They won't have the luxury, as they did in this weekend's event, of entering all of their top stars; decisions will have to be made as to who will march into National Stadium on August 8 representing China's national sport. That, of course, bodes well for the rest of the world, and it's the reason so many former Chinese players now play for other countries. They may not have quite made it to the top in China, but in table tennis, there is room to sneak in at the biggest events when China is forced to keep some of the world's best at home.
Kim Cloutier
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