The 56th World Table Tennis Championships team competition in 2022 will be held in Chengdu from September 30 to October 9, with the Chinese men's team hitting ten consecutive championships and the Chinese women's team striving for five consecutive championships. Recently, Chen Xuan, the men's doubles champion of the Athens Olympic Games and the two-time men's doubles champion of the World Table Tennis Championships and currently the head coach of the Jiangsu Provincial Table Tennis Team, revealed in the live broadcast that he would return to the Chinese table tennis coaching team in the form of secondment to help the team members train in preparation for the Chengdu World Table Tennis Championships, which caused widespread concern among fans.
Chen Xuan's ball style is tough, giving people a feeling of majesty. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, he competed in the world-class competition for the first time and won the Olympic gold medal with Marlene. With his fast, fierce and fierce first three board skills, as well as the domineering spirit of never accepting defeat, he was crowned by fans as the title of "Killing God", and in the table tennis world, there is a saying that "the doubles Chen Xuan won the world".
On the evening of the 15th, in a dialogue with the reporter of Beijing Youth Daily, Chen Xuan shared the successful experience of his table tennis career and hoped to use his influence to promote the development of table tennis. At the same time, he also revealed the near-term plan to assist the national team and continue to do some things within his power for the national table tennis.
Beijing Youth Daily: Did you second to the national team to help Sun Yingsha, Xu Xin and other team members train?
Chen Xuan: This is not true, mainly after arriving in Chengdu to listen to the team arrangement, maybe the network has exaggerated this matter a bit, in fact, to do some assistive work. Because the Chinese team in the team competition of this World Table Tennis Championships is fighting on the mainland, so that everyone can work hard together, if they are abroad, there will be no such conditions. This time there is just such an opportunity, I hope to reduce the burden on everyone.
Beijing Youth Daily: Recently, the main players of the national table tennis team participated in the challenge and championship events at WTT Budapest, what is your evaluation of their performance?
Chen Xuan: Training within the team is training, and external competitions are also a kind of training, and since it is a competition, there will be wins and losses. In fact, sometimes losing is not terrible, I am afraid that after losing, I don't know where I lost. Losing is not a bad thing, winning is not a good thing, it depends on how individuals feel about the game, how to learn experience and lessons, how to make themselves grow faster, this is the most critical.
Beijing Youth Daily: From players to coaches, what is the change in mentality?
Chen Xuan: I think that during the athlete period, in any case, they always managed themselves well, and after becoming a coach, it is actually equivalent to a parent, who needs to take care of these children, and then help these children to be able to give them some advice in all aspects of their skills and daily life.
Beijing Youth Daily: Do you have any new plans for the future when you return to the provincial team? How do you see China's youth table tennis career?
Chen Xuan: The main thing is to discover and cultivate talents, some of the athletes we are in contact with now, generally children around 10 years old, depending on how we can train them to a certain level and achievements in the past few years, and can be transported to the national second team. The cultivation of young athletes is still to be innovative, to draw spiritual strength from the older generation of outstanding athletes, and more importantly, to create some of their own things, can not completely follow the old road, so that their future development will be better.
Beijing Youth Daily: Table tennis has never been just a sport for Chinese, but also a spirit. How do you see the spirit of national table tennis?
Chen Xuan: I think the main thing about table tennis is that it has a special background, and table tennis players carry a lot of missions and often have a lot of pressure. As table tennis players, the requirement for ourselves is to be like a soldier in the army, and every time we go out to participate in various competitions, it feels more like a kind of battle.
Beijing Youth Daily: From the former "killing god" to a loving father, have you considered letting your children devote themselves to the cause of table tennis in the future?
Chen Xuan: They are still young and are cultivating interest. If you do not engage in table tennis, you may also consider letting them choose other sports. It's under consideration, and there's still time.
Beijing Youth Daily: Will table tennis be your life's work? What are the expectations for young players?
Chen Xuan: Because since I have done this thing and have also engaged in this cause, I think that in my future work, I am inseparable from table tennis. Hopefully, young players can grow faster and more talent emerges. Table tennis is also more fiercely competitive in China, and I hope that through this competition, they will have a healthy mentality and make a leap in their skills.
Beijing Youth Daily: What are your expectations for the upcoming Chengdu World Table Tennis Championships Team Competition?
Chen Xuan: At present, everyone's situation is not the same, some team members may have just returned from abroad, some team members may still be in quarantine, so the time may not be consistent, basically around August 22 to Chengdu to assemble, prepare for the team World Table Tennis Championships. I wish us success in running our own competitions, and I also hope that our team members will play well, after all, everyone has been practicing for a long time, and it is time to produce results.
Text/Beiqing Sports Zhou Xueshuai