Chinese paddlers ready for worlds
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Chinese table tennis coaches reckoned their one-week training in Vienna a well done job as to prepare for the upcoming world championships in Rotterdam.
The all-conquering Chinese team left Beijing on April 29 for Werner Schlager Academy, a table tennis training base in southeast suburb of Vienna, named after the Austrian former world champion, and will leave for Rotterdam on Thursday.
Shi Zhihao, head coach of the Chinese women's team, said his players had adapted to new environment and overcome jet lag.
The Chinese players are defending all the five titles at the 51st World Individual Table Tennis Championships which will take place between May 8 and 15 in the Dutch city of Rotterdam.
Even on their last day of their stay in Vienna, the Chinese players were absorbed in practice of serve, receive and rally.
Li Xiaoxia, ranked No. 1 in the world, was seen having multi-ball training, while Guo Yue was practising long rallies at the other table.
Wang Hao, the world's top men's player, was honing his counter-attack skills. For every ferocious smash with odd angel from the opponent, Wang was able to return them with more strength.
The women's head coach Shi believes possible threats to his team will come from Asia.
Singapore, the surprise winners over China in last year's world team championship final, Japan, South Korea and the Hong Kong team are expected to give a hard time to Shi's students in Rotterdam, where 2012 Olympic berths are up for grabs, too.
Liu Guoliang, the men's head coach, regarded the men's individual gold as the most precious, saying Timo Boll of Germany, Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus, Jun Mizutani of Japan and Joo Se-Hyuk of South Korea were the closest rivals.
Liu hailed Werner Schlager Academy as "the best table tennis training base in Europe".
The academy, established by the 2003 world champion, includes a spacious training hall, a number of training venues and facilities for rehabilitation, treatment and leisure.
Besides the Chinese team, Austrian and Romanian players were training in the academy.
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