2009 Yokohama World Championships
WOMEN’S PLAY (Unabridged Version)

            By Tim Boggan

            The Women’s Singles final is soon to begin. “…Time after time…”—the song wafting through the Yokohama Arena is so dreamily mellow, and I’ve seen so many matches, that I’m in danger of dozing off…as if the Championship didn’t seem like a competitive event.
            But with the darkening of the arena the music all-out heightens, downright throbs. Up above, the four overhanging Toshiba screens light up with the Chinese flag. Soon dramatic past-point shots of one after the other of the two Chinese finalists will be shown. Down below a cordon of flap-jacketed photographers surround the single-table court that’s barriered off with sponsor names HIS, Liebherr, San-El, Butterfly. Then…
            Magic! From out of a puff of smoke, first one World Champion, Zhang Yining, is spotlighted as she makes her way to the court, then the other, the Defending Champion Guo Yue, also aglow, arrives. The announcer, her voice ever rising in introducing each, couldn’t sound more enthusiastic. The umpires, too, are recognized—which is good since some of them feel they don’t get enough attention. Soon I hear, among the thousands of mostly Japanese spectators enjoying their holiday “Golden Week,” two little groups in opposite halves of the stands shrill out (more in defiance than in needless encouragement), “CHIN-A! CHIN-A!”
            Ah, yes, Reality—these China cries I’ve heard before. Again their women, 14 strong this year, have been playing freely with the field. Nor is this surprising—for, if the truth be told, the Chinese women have been invincible since “Ping-Pong Diplomacy” was introduced. Now, 38 years later, all four semifinalists in the Singles are Chinese-born, as are three pairs in the Women’s Doubles and four pairs in the Mixed Doubles. Given a chance, players representing Singapore, South Korea, Chinese Hong Kong, and Japan contend.
            The Europeans? One European woman made the Singles quarter’s—she played one of the other two native Europeans remaining in the last 16. No European pair made the Women’s Doubles quarter’s. Of the top 23 ranked women in the world all are Asian born. But so what? Would such stark facts, realized or not, stop one hopeful after another from doing her best to compete? What’s the alternative?
           
Qualifying Highlights
            I’ll come back to that Chinese final of course, but, to start at the beginning, how about a little recognition for a few of those 32 (from a total of a 113 entries with a #200 or more ranking) who advanced out of round robins to the 128-draw proper. Were there a “Qualifying Prize” it would have to go to Sweden’s Malin Pettersson who, living up to her illustrious first name, was the only qualifier to win her first-round match—12-10 in the sixth over Russia’s (World #93) Anna Tikhomirova.
            Several qualifiers, however, deserve “Honorable Mention.” Croatia’s Mirela Durak—who knocked out the youngest player in the field, our 12-year-old Lily Zhang—came out of the pre-lims to test Slovakia’s (#94) Eva Odorova, battling her even into the key fifth game which she lost 14-12. Lily, I have to add, handled herself beautifully, particularly in her Mixed Doubles qualifier. Partnered with Tim Wang, they rallied from two games down to go 10-8 up in the fifth over Latvia’s Matiss Burgis/Balba BogdaSarova, only, bummer, to lose it in the end, 15-13. Some feel it’s unwise to send a child into such competition, but I feel the international experience is good for her self-image, and that she’ll improve all the more for being here.
            Indonesia’s Shamini Kumaresan (#331) fought hard at least in an -11, 7, -11 start against Japan’s Yuka Ishigaki (#53), as did Austria’s Martina Petzner (#366), coming on 5, 4, -5, -11 against Hungary’s Georgina Pota (#49), as did also Turkey’s Fulya Ozler (#280) in her 8, -14, 6 beginning against Thailand’s Nanthana Komwong (#61). Strongly contesting, too, was France’s Audrey Mattenet (237) in her 7, -12, -8, 7, -9, -8 match with Austria’s Li Qiangbing (#51).
            Our second youngest player in the field, 13-year-old Ariel Hsing (#482), also handling herself admirably, came out of the round robin by beating El Salvador’s Morayle Alvarez De Lovo (#386) in six. She was helped not only between games by our gesticulating U.S. Coach of the Year Teodor “Doru” Gheorghe but by a 12-10 Fault! called, correctly, on De Lovo (for hiding her serve). Ariel was then able to reach the first round, though losing in the K.O. qualifier to the underrated Chinese Taipei player Hsiung Nai-I, 13-11 in the fifth. Hsiung’s racket was found unacceptable and she had to forfeit the match. On advancing, Ariel lost to the Netherlands’ Li Jie (#26). In Women’s Doubles, Lily/Ariel (combined rating 1116) qualified with a win over Algeria’s Fatiha Bouclaris/Souhila Medjoub (1885), then took a game from the Philippine players Komwong and Anisara Muangsuk (205). Our Olympian, and National Champion, Crystal Wang, advanced, but, after a losing a taut 17-15 second game, fell to Singapore’s Sun Bei Bei (#30).
 
Best Matches to Round of 32
              In #1 seed Olympic Champion Zhang Yining’s section of the draw, Italy’s Nikoleta Stefanova (#48) had to seven-game work to beat Ukraine’s Tetyana Sorochynska (#113). Hungary’s 34-year-old Krisztina Toth (#27) won in the seventh over Turkey’s Melek Hu (#65). U.S. super-star Gao Jun (#17), described by someone as being “tactically astute,” blitzed Canada’s 2006 U.S. Open Champ Mo Zhang (#128). But then, ohhh, she fell to Spain’s Zhu Fang (#70), losing the first, third, fifth, and seventh games 11-9, the last on an edge ball. Watch her recover, though—she’ll be Defending at the U.S. Open. Russia’s Elena Troshneva (#130),12-10 in the sixth, upset Belarus’s Veronika Pavlovich (#57). No surprise that Chinese Hong Kong’s 2008 World Cup runner-up Tie Yana (#10) eliminated Poland’s Natalia Partyka (#100), the only table tennis player to compete in both the Olympics and Paralympics (where, with no right arm below the elbow, she’s the Class 10 Champ).
            Much to the huge delight of thousands of spectators drum-beating their upright balloons in unison, Japan’s best Junior Miss, Kasumi Ishikawa, 16, rallied from down 3-0 and 10-all in the fourth—those balloons were uptight—to somehow tie up Tie and come out a winner. In the beginning, with so many players, their names and faces foreign to the viewer, it’s understandable how one in our U.S. delegation kept saying, “I really like 99”—referring to Ishikawa’s player number which conveniently showed her world ranking.
            In #4 seed GuoYan’s section (if the draw ran true to form, she, China’s World #4, and Zhang would meet in the semi’s), Singapore’s Wang Yue Gu (World #9), a mainstay of Japanese league play, had to come from 3-1 down to get by Ukraine’s pesky Margaryta Pesoyska (#119). Meanwhile, the Czech Republic’s Renata Strbikova (#95) was having more trouble than expected, winning seven in the seventh, from Kelly Sibley (#156), one of only two women (and one man) the English Selector said deserved to come to this World’s, especially since funding for their players had been cut 60%. Strbikova then, despite being 3-1 down, fought off Wang, to get to the round of 32. Six years ago, Croatia’s Tamara Boros, now 31, was World #4, the only European ranked in the top ten. Her current ranking’s #35, and after losing here to Russia’s #172 Anastasia Voronova she’s dropping further down. It can’t be old age, can it? Maybe—for reportedly there are only eight players in the field over 25.  
            Slovakia’s Odorova continued her advance with a 9, -4, -9, 10, 13, 6 clutch win over Japan’s 24-year-old perennial National Champion Sayaka Hirano (#19), earlier this year the German Open Champion. Though host Japan was able to enter 14 of their 21-rostered players in the Men’s/Women’s Singles, Hirano’s loss here was a severe disappointment for most of those thronging the stands. A major upset in this section was South Korea’s (North Korea didn’t come) World #153 Park Young Sook (not to be confused with Korean defensive star Park Mi Young) over China’s World #22 Yao Yan.
            Over in the other half of the draw, World #3 Li Xiaoxia’s section, German Bundesliga veteran Jiaduo (“Du Du”) Wu (World #28), hair up in a shiny barrette, had a 10, 11, 11, -8, -6, -8, 6 scare from the very stubborn Austrian fighter Li Qiangbing (#51). Earlier Li had come from behind (with wins in the sixth and seventh games) to do in France’s Audrey Mattenet (#237). Another favorite survived when South Korea’s Dang Ye Sao (#25) advanced in seven over Thailand’s Nanthana Komwong (#61).
            Germany’s 35-year-old Elke Schall (#45) six-game embarrassed 20-year-old Japanese media darling Ai Fukuhara (#31), famous, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, for having “appeared regularly on TV shows as a child where she would throw tantrums and wail out loud if she lost a point to celebrities.” She first drew journalists’ attention in practice “by spending more than two hours tossing balls high into the air to see how the lights of the arena would affect her serve.” In tears, she described her loss: “It’s pathetic that I couldn’t respond to everyone’s expectations—I was so desperate to win I was rushing everything. I was completely clueless. That’s why I lost. I don’t know what to say.”
            Heyyy, anything will do, for player-celebrities, or players mixing with celebrities, is the new t.t. trend. Iran’s ITTF Media representative Afshin Badiee, as if unconsciously prompted by the four illuminated KIRIN beer ads high up around the arena, again broached the idea of a “Fifth P” to ITTF President Adham Sharara. That would be Promotion—to go with Adham’s Four P’s, pillar-themes of the Federation, Planning, Participation, Popularity, and Profit. The idea of course, supported by Sharara, has spread to the U.S.—play table tennis with actress Susan Sarandon in New York City, join the mix at the Bud-Lite extravaganza in Vegas. On court and off, the more varied personalities to bring attention to the Sport, make it more visible to the public, the better.    
            In World #2 Guo Yue’s section, Australia’s Miao Miao (#122) had to be, though doubtless sick of such puns, practically purring with satisfaction after her upset seven-game win over Chinese Hong Kong’s Lau Sui Fei (#40). Meantime, our Jasna Reed (#180), experiencing racket problems—the rubber she finally ended up with she pronounced “terrible”—was beaten by Romania’s 2007 European Youth Champion Elizabeta Samara (#36) who then was stopped in seven by Chinese Taipei’s Huang Yi-hua (#67). Jasna/Gao Jun suffered a routine loss in Women’s Doubles to China’s #1 seeds GuoYue/Li Xiaoxia.

Round of 32
            For six games, it seemed that only Toth’s lefty lobs could keep her in the match with Zhu Fang. But then anything she did in a final 11-1 win more than compensated for her struggles. Heard again was “I like #99”—and with good reason. Lefty shakehander Ishikawa scored another upset, downing her compatriot Haruna Fukuoka (#37) after wining at 1-1 a 15-13 “breaker.” Strbikova, on losing an 11-9-in-the-5th game, banged the heel of her racket on the table and was of course I-don’t-care-yellow-carded. Then she went on her intense way to win her third straight seven-game match, took out one of my favorites, Belarus defender Viktoria Pavlovich ((#24—the top-ranked European-born player). Having exhausted herself, Strbikova then sat down on the court’s Gerflor floor and stayed there a while. Iveta Vacenovska (#90) of the Czech Republic prevented Odorova from continuing her winning ways. The Netherlands Li Jiao, 36 (#18), having recovered from pre-World’s tournament fatigue and pleased with new coach Chen Zhibin, outlasted Sun Bei Bei in seven. And in a meeting of Chinese Hong Kong teammates, Jiang Huajun (#11) got the better of Lin Ling (#29), 11-7 in the seventh.

Round of 16
            The Program said that Ishikawa, aka “99,” in making her high-toss singles debut at a World’s ambitiously “aims for the title.” And, sure enough, in concert with the announcer’s ever-encouraging voice she continues on—helped or hindered by a coach yellow-carded for giving her advice—with a win over China transfer, Singapore’s Yu Meng Yu (#33). Two nervous errors at 9-all in the sixth doYu in—she tries to loop in Ishikawa’s high toss and it goes long, then the next serve she backhands into the net. Still, having earlier scored an upset victory over Austria’s Liu Jia (#13), she likely has an advantage over you, the reader, for she practices 25 hours a week and has a physical trainer that’s a big help to her. The Czechs Vacenovska and Strbikova battle it out as they did in the 2008 Prague Open to see who represents the lone European in the quarter’s—and this time the winner is Vacenovska who advances 11-9 in the sixth. Ding Ning (#16), 2009 Kuwait Open winner over Guo Yue, with her crouching knife-blade serve (can last-second make contact with either side of the racket) doesn’t figure to beat 2008 World Cup winner Li Xiaoxia, and doesn’t, but down double match point in the fifth she gets to deuce before succumbing. Why Li has this prolonged serve ritual (not uncommon among players), I don’t know (what’s she thinking?)—but she bounces the ball several times on her racket, then covering the ball with her hand, she bounces it several times more on the table, then she looks not at the umpire but her opponent, and finally serves.
            “Dang it!” or something a mite stronger 2008 European Top 12 winner Li Jiao might have exclaimed on losing (and thinking, m’god, am I’m tired again?) 17-15 in the sixth and 11-8 in the seventh to Korea’s Dang Ye See (#25). Lefty penholder Li had her best chances in that marathon sixth. Up 10-9 match point, she’s the victim of an edge ball—10-all. Dang blows on her racket, serves, then mis-hits Li’s return ceiling-ward. But this match point for Li comes and goes. And another when Li serves, follows, misses. Now Dang gets the ad but fails to return serve. At 13-all, Li forces Dang to lob and she not so neatly smashes it in for her fourth ad. But she still can’t win it. Can’t win it with her fifth ad either. Finally, Dang serves and follows for a winner. Then Li serves…and Dang aces her to her open forehand.
            Singapore’s Feng Tianwei (#6), however, has to be super-pleased to have 13-11 in the seventh escaped Park Mi Young (#20). It’s great fun to watch this South Korean chopper—especially in a match like this which as it progresses is played in Expedite. Park cleanly cuts ball after ball with her backhand as Feng, careful, repeatedly pushes or topspin rolls and drops, waiting for her best attack move. If the ball is put to her forehand, Park chops, counters, or lobs. After Feng’s maneuvers seemingly give her point control, Park’s returns from either side are high and Feng can power the ball, but even then it’s not easy for her to quickly win the point or often win it at all. Park, behind 2-0 in games, takes the next three, both the fourth and fifth from 10-7 down. After losing the sixth, Park gets off to an early lead in the seventh, picking in an unexpected backhand. But her lead quickly evaporates and now a close end game ensues. Down 10-8, helped by an edge ball, Park again rallies to deuce, and again. But once again behind, the odds are too much—contacting nothingness she whiffs the last ball.
            In Zhang Yining’s absence, China’s 2007 World Women’s Singles finalists Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia will win the Women’s Doubles over China’s other lefty/righty duo of Ding Ning/Guo Yan. This was a largely uncontested event in which from the round of 32 on there were only two seven-game matches. Highlights, you might say, were  Ding/Guo’s -4, -11, 9, 2, 9, 10 comeback over their fellow Chinese Cao Zhen/Liu Shiwen, and Hirano/Fukuhara’s redemptive six-game win over Germany’s Wu/Schall. The popular Fukuhara, flag-bearer for Japan at the Beijing Olympics, cried more on winning this doubles than on losing her singles? However, it was the Korean defensive pair of Park Mi Young and 2004 Olympic bronze medal winner Kim Kyong Ah (#8), though losing in the semi’s to Guo and Ding, I most liked to watch. Balls that are returned high I’m used to seeing be put away, but these Koreans, working in tandem (surely more difficult than playing singly), return on occasion maybe 15 balls swatted to all parts of the court. Many viewers unaccustomed to seeing them in action wouldn’t think their returns possible. But with perfect anticipation and marvelous footwork they’re in just the right position, bending or stretching, to keep getting the ball back, seemingly gaining strength from the other’s refusal to miss.  
            China’s Defending World Champion Guo Yue faced down an almost disastrous seven-game threat from Chinese Hong Kong’s Jiang Huajun, reportedly the “Zhang Yining Killer,” having beaten her four out of the five times they’ve played—that being, as one fellow said, “one of the anomalies of sport.” An early 13-11 point slammed into Guo’s gut, only to have it nanosecond-like recoil back at her opponent, was key to blocking Jiang from possibly winning in five.

Quarter’s
            There were four 4-1 matches in the quarter’s—all won by the Chinese. Many wished for something more competitive. In the one half, Zhang Yining stopped “99” who’d hoped for the miracle of being the first Japanese woman in 40 years to win a medal in this event.  2009 Danish Open winner Liu Shiwen (#12), Wang Wei was telling me, came from northern China to Canton when she was only seven and gradually became the consistent attacker at 18 she is today. Coached by Kong Linghui, she’d earlier upset 2008 Pro Tour Grand Final winner GuoYan (#4) in straight games, and now prevailed over Vacenovska, 17-15 in the fifth. V for Victory—V for a Vacenovska Victory? No, it didn’t happen, but the Czech, on winning the first 11-9 (“CHO!”), then, after socking in a serve, literally dancing fist-up around the court as (“CHO!”…”CHO!”) she goes 4-0 up in the second, is, wow, really wired. But despite the lead, she loses that game, then the next 12-10, then the next 11-4. Back she comes though, as tenacious as ever: 6-all, 7-all, 8-all, 9-all, 10-all. Now she has her first ad…then the second, to which she applies body English, but, oh, the ball just misses. A third ad….A fourth. Then she’s down 16-15 and—Time!”—goes back to her coach and drapes a towel over her head. When she comes back, she puts Liu’s serve into the net. Up spirals her racket…which she hurries to catch. As she exits to a big ovation—it’s a memorable moment—she stops to give a little kid an autograph. In the other half, Dang drubbed Li Xiaoxia 11-2, but that was only one game—she lost the other four, none going deuce. Did the audience care? Guo Yue was also too strong for the still maturing 2007 Pro Tour Grand Final U-21 winner Feng Tianwei who, in what some might call her spare time, takes English lessons.

Semi’s  
            Zhang with her three-game-up start (7-0 in the first, followed by an edge winner at 10-8; then 7-3 down in the second only to go 9-7 up; then 7-2 ahead and cruising in the third) didn’t rout 2009 Danish Open winner Liu—it took her six games to beat this new and gifted “Deng Yaping.” Sometimes Zhang’s in trouble but blocks her way out; sometimes Liu’s unrelenting attack gets through. The audience is so far unresponsive; there are only some isolated cries, “CHIN-A! CHIN-A!” Do they suggest anything other than pride in country and natural exuberance? Suggest maybe: Play better…especially the Chinese who’s behind. Do they prompt Liu to run out the fourth from 8-all? Certainly she’s rewarded with moderate applause. In the fifth, the magnifying Toshiba screen above shows Liu talking to herself, then giving a nod of understanding to what she’s been saying—she doesn’t want to blow her 4-1 lead. Repeated topspin exchanges bring Liu to 10-8, followed by two miscues to deuce. But now two big forehands from this unintimidated, diminutive challenger force the match into the sixth. Zhang continues force-blocking from the center of the table. Anything to her forehand she slap-swipes. The Olympic Champ is not always at her steady best, but in the end it’s Liu, whom some consider “a future world champ,” who makes the final error.  
            When in the other semi’s between Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia a ball in the late stages of the first game hangs on the net, then dribbles over, does that suggest the match will be won by chance? Guo doesn’t think so—she wins the first and is 7-1 up in the second. Liu couldn’t be distracted by the cameraman walking back and forth alongside court slowly, carefully wheeling his camera along giving viewers close-ups, could she?
            In the third, as if responding to cries of “CHIN-A!” Li comes out swinging and as she wins points lets out little squeals of self-encouragement. When, however, Guo serves and follows with a winner into Li’s backhand to go up 9-6 she appears unstoppable. But then, caught out of position, she hits a hopelessly wayward forehand, loses another point and calls Time! It doesn’t help. For when Li counters in a forehand, Guo’s game-point down and can’t recover. In the fifth, Li loses five of the first six points, then draws to 6-5, but Guo runs out the game when Li twice fails to return serve, and Guo twice smacks in Li’s serve. Down 3-1 and 6-3 in the fifth, Li’s body language shows she’s beaten. Yeah? She wins four straight—so, so much for Chinese deception and my observation. At 7-all Li caught Guo with a return to her forehand which she couldn’t come close to. But from 8-all, Li failed to return serve, Guo scored with a terrific counter, and only Li’s return of serve catching the edge delayed the inevitable. Guo’s in the final for the second straight time.
 
Final
            The ITTF statistician Jean Jacques Huberman tells us that in the last seven years Zhang Yining, in compiling a 13-4 record over Guo Yue, has won every final except one they’ve played, and has beaten her the last four times out. So who do you like?...Sure? This time Zhang has just the opposite start from her semi’s—she drops the first two games. But only the first two. And yet it seems from the get-go Zhang will dominate—she’s up 5-1. Oh, but then she’s down 8-6. And now Zhang doesn’t distinguish herself in the end game—whiffing one, unaccountably making a pushing error, and blocking another off to go down 12-10. Nor in the second does she play like a champion—far from it. While Chinese partisans yell out something unintelligible to me, echoed even by a child’s voice, Zhang’s down 10-2. After Guo dumps a sorry point into the net, Zhang whiffs away the game. So who’s the favorite now?
            Zhang, however, is poised. A little shuffle before a point, but you never see her hustle. Even when she goes after an errant ball, all is measured, she’s in no hurry to prove herself. In stark contrast to her economy of movement, points rapidly accumulate for her—she wins the third 11-2. In the fourth, up-at-the-table exchanges prove Zhang’s forceful rebounding backhands aimed at Guo’s middle or backhand are strategically sound. These are punctuated with flashing forehands from Guo which, though the ball gets behind her, Zhang instinctively off-the-bounce counters—there’s no time for hesitation; muscle memory swings into action. When up 7-6 Guo misses a forehand, she raises her paddle more in disgust than frustration. Then, as if she’d sensed what was coming, she can’t win another fast-hands point. “CHIN-A!” “CHIN-A!”
            The match is now 2-2. Guo isn’t falling apart, she scores, but, faced with Zhang’s super-steady backhand control, she feels the pressure—mis-serves, whiffs, and pops one up to go down 7-6. Then 8-6, 9-6, and now (Zhang’s unexpected fast serve leads to a positional advantage), 10-6, and an ending 11-7 point wherein the exchange is so fast you’ve got to say with assurance that both players have reached the optimum in coordinating human mind and movement. In the sixth game, Zhang is down 6-3, but forges ahead 7-6, and, though I thought she played rather passively, is never behind again, winning 11-9 on an edge ball.
            Some might not be able to tell who then was the more excited—the announcer or the paying spectator. There’s a rush to the railing from the celebrity-minded. Some though in no danger of being identified wear white masks, hoping as Zhang exits to reach out for an autograph or—swine flu be damned—a handshake.  But the Champion is well insulated as she moves through this déjà vu moment in History—she has just won her 10th World Championship medal, and more as an understood obligation than an ecstatic response waves to the crowd.
            Her 10th medal—that’s all? Yep. China spokesman Cai Zhenhua told the Xinhua news agency, “We reached the top of table tennis in the 2008 Olympic Games, and we should share the International Table Tennis Federation’s responsibility to make the game more popular and spectacular….As a player and coach, I only saw gold medals. As a table tennis administrator and an ITTF official, I am thinking more about the global development of the sport.” Therefore, he said, “China’s Wang Liqin, Ma Lin, and Zhang Yining, who have been involved in nine doubles world championship victories [I count ten, but why quibble?], will instead concentrate on singles.”
            ITTF President Adham Sharara at a press conference said Cai Zhenhua wasn’t speaking for him, Sharara, or the ITTF in making these concessions, if that’s what they were. But Adham needn’t have worried. Note that Cai didn’t mention China’s Wang Hao who’d win the Men’s Singles and Doubles with Chen Qi, or China’s Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia who’d win the Women’s Doubles. As for Zhang Yining, who with the now retired Wang Nan had taken three straight Women’s Doubles Championships, no, she wouldn’t play Doubles this year. Forget May Day when the Singles and Doubles matches would have piled up—1-2-3 of them just in the Mixed alone.
            So who would win the Mixed, that mixed-country event, share global responsibility? Why China’s Li Peng (#38), who sure had to be rested ‘cause he didn’t play Men’s Singles or Doubles, and his partner Cao Zhen (#14), who didn’t play Singles either. Who did they beat? Six pairs in quite a workout—most notably the South Koreans Oh Sang Eun/Dang Ye Seo (9, 10, -9, 11, -10, 11), then in the last three rounds fellow Chinese. Runner-ups were Zhang Jike (#35)—the current Chinese National Champion—and Mu Zi (#58), both of whom sat out the Singles and Mu the Doubles, while Zhang (with Hao Shuai) was getting to the semi’s of Men’s Doubles as well.
            Praise the Chinese for their deserving strength and strategy, but at the moment take with a grain of rice China TTA President Cai’s claim he sees something other than gold medals.