World No 1s Wang Liqin and Zhang Yining are widely considered shoe-ins for spots on China's table tennis team for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, but both paddlers know that this could not be farther from the truth.

With less than 18 months until the Games start, a crop of emerging youngsters are cranking up the pressure on the veteran duo.

The new generation, led by 18-year-old Ma Long and Guo Yue, 19, have dominated competition so far in 2007, in the process proving their status as legitimate medal contenders.

"This is no surprise," said national team head coach Liu Guoliang. "The rising young players keep putting a lot of pressure on the world title holders. That's a reason why China is a success in the world of table tennis."

Ma outclassed Wang Liqin and world No 2 Wang Hao to win his first ever International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) trophy at the Kuwait Open in January. Meanwhile his women's teammate Guo has pocketed three out of four titles in 2007 in Slovenia, Croatia and Kuwait respectively, beating Athens Olympic gold medalist Zhang Yining twice this year.

Despite winning six ITTF titles in 2006, 28-year-old Wang Liqin has struggled to deal with the challenge from younger teammates and has failed to win an ITTF title so far this year.

Added to this, he has yet to confirm his spot at the World Championships this year in Zagreb, Croatia, after finishing fourth in the team's first internal qualification tournament. Hao Shuai, an emerging star who clinched the Croatia Open in January, won that event.

"We will try hard to push the veterans," said Hao. "All of us are fighting for spots at the Beijing Olympics and I think I have a chance of getting one."

Tough road

Head coach Liu says his target for the Games is crystal clear - sweeping all four gold medals

The Table Tennis Administrative Centre, led by Liu and women's coach Shi Zhihao, has even signed a letter of guarantee with the State General Administration for Sports promising a sweep.

"Whenever we come to a tournament, gold medals are what we chase the most. The Olympics is no exception," said Liu. "To clinch all the golds is not only the dream of Chinese players and coaches, it's our responsibility. I know the whole country has very high expectations, but we don't have any excuses for missing out on a gold when the Olympics is on our doorstep."

However, format changes by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are sure to make Liu's mission harder.

Men's and women's team events will replace the doubles, which China had won each time since the Seoul Games in 1988.

In the new team event the quarterfinals have been scratched, with instead four round-robin groups that will yield the four semifinalists.

Many believe the changes are aimed at limiting China's dominance, but Liu believes they won't make any difference.

"I don't care if changes are designed for us, it doesn't bother us that much," he said. "No matter how the format changes, our goal is to finish at the top of the group and then become champion.

"On the other hand, we have to play as solidly as we can and try to win all round-robin matches at the Games. That's a very big requirement for us."

According to Liu, six players - world top three Wang Liqin, Ma Lin and Wang Hao, as well as teenagers Hao Shuai, Chen Qi and Ma Long - will be in the men's Olympic team, but only three of them will compete.

On the women's side, world No 1 Zhang, veteran Wang Nan, Guo Yue, Guo Yan and Li Xiaoxia will be fighting for the places.

China has long been a force in table tennis, but dominance reached a peak in the late 1990s when the team swept all titles at the Atlanta and Sydney Games, as well as the 2000 World Championships in Tianjin.

The ITTF became concerned that China's dominance was affecting the international competitiveness of the game, and in 2000 they stepped in with new rules enlarging the ball and slowing the speed of play, taking away one of the Chinese players' biggest advantages.

These changes appeared to make little difference as China won all medals at the 2001 World Championships in Japan. In response, the ITTF introduced shorter 11-point games and, crucially, a ban on the "covered serves" used by the Chinese players.

Then world No 1 Liu was forced to retire after failing to adapt to the new serving requirements, and at the Athens Games in 2004 Rye Seung-min of South Korea won the men's gold medal.

(China Daily February 27, 2007)