Member Associations | 2 May 2011

China prepares in earnest WTTC at Werner SCHLAGER Academy

03/05/2011 – From the moment the arrangement was made, thoughts of the Chinese National Team at the Werner SCHLAGER Academy seemed never out of mind. What a privilege we have to host the finest, and now they are here to complete their final preparat

On Friday, a delegation of 36 representatives flew Beijing to Frankfurt to Vienna, a chartered bus waited to take them promptly to the Reinisch Hotel where they had a small dinner and retired for the evening. The next day, at 10.31 am, the greatest table tennis team on earth set foot into the training hall. One after the other filed in, reserved, unassuming, looking here and there at a place many in the table tennis world had heard about with such high regard. Fans of the sport would recognize many, from the elite coaches Liu Guoliang and KONG Linghui to the stars WANG Hao, WANG Liqin, and GUO Yue, just a short list of the 24 players in the group.

First on the agenda was a tour of the Werner SCHLAGER Academy. In the respectful way we have come to anticipate from these professionals, their many comments indicated how very impressed they were. As we are appreciative of them being here, they are appreciative of being here with us in this exceptional facility.

And what are we to expect from their first training session? It will not surprise the most knowledgeable in our sport that the first session was in the multi-training fitness center. With not a racket to be found, the team spread out among the first class workout equipment and rigorously began their tournament preparations. We should expect no less.

Joining the Chinese contingent are four players from the Academy training group: Daniela DODEAN (Romania) and LI Qiangbing (Austrian National Champion), Austrian team player CHEN Weixing, and Jo?MONTEIRO (Portugal).

(by Donn OLSON, WSA, courtesy ITTF)

Photo: Werner SCHLAGER during training sessions in Schwechat

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