BEIJING, Feb 27: China's world dominance in table tennis could be ending as fewer young players are emerging with the talent and commitment needed to become champions, according to the country's top table tennis official.“This is where the problem lies. We have fewer and fewer promising athletes,” Cai Zhenhua, a former national coach who is now assistant director of China's sports ministry, was quoted on Tuesday as saying. “We used to have the best reserves of talent in the world, but the situation is different now.”

China has been the world's top breeding ground for table tennis talent for decades. In the past young Chinese who wanted to play sport had few options apart from ping pong in a poor country that lacked facilities.

That has all changed, Cai told the China Daily. He added he remembered being ‘shocked’ by the raw talent of world champion Wang Liqun and Ma Lin when they were just a couple of youngsters more than a decade ago. That feeling no longer occurs, he said.

“The most talented kids won't play table tennis because they have other options and won't spend all their time at the table.”

Cai has been tasked with establishing table tennis training centres on university campuses in an effort to reverse the decline in table tennis fortunes.

Current national coach Liu Guoliang said new players were still emerging in time to guarantee China a sweep of gold medals at the Beijing Olympics. “To clinch all the gold medals is not only the dream of the Chinese players and coaches, it is our responsibility,” he said.

Wang Liqun and women's world number one Zhang Yining were under pressure to hold on to their places, he said. “The rising young players keep on 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,” he added.

The newspaper referred specifically to rising men's star Ma Long, 18, and talented women's player Guo Yue, 19. It noted that Ma beat Wang, 28, and China's number two Wang Hao to win the Kuwait Open in February while Guo has won three out of four international titles this year, beating Athens Olympic gold medallist Zhang twice.

Despite the warnings from Cao that China's table tennis dominance may be waning, Liu said he was confident that they could win all four titles at the Beijing Olympics.—AFP