China’s big favorites in table tennis – but younger people prefer basketball

Ever since Mao Zedong named table tennis a national sport in the People’s Republic of China, the sport has been dominated by the Chinese, with a few exceptions, such as the Swedish period of greatness in the 1980s.

A look at the world rankings before the Olympics in Tokyo speaks its clear language. Three Chinese are at the top on the men’s side. On the women’s side, the dominance is total, six out of ten of the world’s best come from China.

– China will take ten medals in table tennis Tokyo Olympics, Du Xinjun says confidently.

In such cases, the pot is full, more medals can not be won by a nation in table tennis and Du Xinjun only counts on the noblest denominations, gold and silver. On the men’s side, defending champion Ma Long and world number one Fan Zhendong are favorites. On the women’s side, the two Chinese Chen Meng and Sun Yngsha are dominant.

Du Xinjun is a coach in the table tennis club Yue Don Kan in Beijing and has himself played competitions at a high level. He knows Swedish hope very well Mattias Falck who won world cup silver 2019 and is ranked ninth in the world. “Pretty good” is the rating.

– But he will not have a chance against our players.

He’s wearing a red shirt on himself and behind him are pictures of famous players who have visited the club. Among others, the Swede Jörgen Persson who has been there as a representative of Stiga. Du Xinjun praises Persson, who today is the national team captain for the Swedish national team, as a player and person. But that’s only when he talks about J-O Waldner which really shines in his eyes. If there is any Swedish player he admires, it is him. Lao Wa, the evergreen tree, as he is called in China.

– He was a genius who was active for three generations of Chinese players. Waldner is the biggest threat we’ve ever encountered.

Behind him is heard the characteristic sound of beatings. At the tables, mainly middle-aged men play, with the exception of a six-year-old girl who gets a lesson.

The picture is telling for today’s China, where football and basketball have later become table tennis as the most popular sport among young people.

If the trend continues it’s a big shift. Table tennis has dominated China since the 1950s when Mao Zedong named it a national sport. Investments in the sport began and bore fruit quickly.

In 1959, Rong Guotuan took home the World Cup. It was the first World Cup victory ever for the Communist People’s Republic and for Mao it was more than a sporting success. Winning internationally was for him a revenge on the “international humiliation” of previous decades. The victory in the World Cup Mao called a “spiritual nuclear weapon”.

Table tennis also became a political tool. It was so-called ping-pong diplomacy that paved the way for an iceberg between China and the United States in the 70s. Only after the American national team was invited to China did the door open for President Richard Nixon. A visit that marked the beginning of the end of China’s international isolation.

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Since then has China developed rapidly economically. A middle class has emerged and international influences can be seen everywhere. The American basketball league NBA is hugely popular in China with 500 million million viewers. Interest in football has also increased rapidly, both to watch and practice.

But Du Xingjun is not worried about the resurgence of table tennis.

– I believe that table tennis will continue to be a national sport in China. Basketball requires more physical. You should be tall and muscular. In table tennis, the requirements are not as high.

He says that those who get the best have often been scouted from a club and offered a place in special sports schools.

– We are good at table tennis because we have a good system for selecting good players at an early age. We have many clubs to take from, only in Beijing a few hundred.

But that a change is underway is clear. At the table tennis tables that can be seen everywhere in Beijing’s parks, it is mostly the elderly who play. Younger ones are seen wearing jerseys from NBA teams and a basketball under their arm.

– We are not the ones who decide which is China’s national sport. But in practice, basketball is more popular than table tennis.

That’s what Jiang Ying, who is administratively responsible for the Shi Rao basketball club in the same area as the Yue Don Kan table tennis club, says.

She states that the state invests in basketball.

– Nowadays, those who are good at basketball can get extra points that help them get into the best universities. This does not apply to table tennis players.

In the typical Chinese spirit, she promotes basketball as a way to benefit what most Chinese consider most important, education.

– It is a sport that stimulates the brain and is good for studies.

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According to statistics, basketball and table tennis have about the same number of practitioners in China, 300 million. But according to Jiang Ying, eight out of ten young people choose basketball over table tennis. Shi Rao has 2,000 members and when DN is visiting, some 18-year-old boys play against a basket. They have just graduated from high school and taken the most important test of their lives, gaokao, which determines which university they enter. They do not expect to become elite players but say that they follow with great interest both the American basketball league, NBA, and the Chinese, CBA.

Interest awoke when the Olympics were held in Beijing in 2008 and the United States and China met in the group stage. China went to the quarterfinals, longer than the team has ever done before.

– I was five years old then and felt that I wanted to try, says Zhao Sibu.

When he was eleven years old he went to a camp organized by the Chinese superstar Yao Ming and since then he has continued to play.

Liu Xiqjiu alternates basketball with another sport in which China is successful, swimming.

– But I’m happy to come here to the basketball club. It’s fun with team play. In swimming, it’s just about oneself.

But they have to wait for really big successes in their favorite sport. They sadly state that the Chinese national basketball team did not qualify for the Olympics in Tokyo. In the Olympics, they will follow other disciplines in which China has a medal chance, such as badminton and swimming.

And table tennis of course. When gold looms, the younger ones are also interested in the national sport.

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