TOKYO, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese table tennis team won one gold, one silver and two bronze medals at the recently concluded Tokyo Olympic Games, creating the best record for Japanese athletes in the Olympic table tennis event, in which Mizutani Hayabusa / Ito Mishimasa defeated the Chinese duo Xu Xin / Liu Shiwen in the mixed doubles final to win Japan's first Olympic gold medal in table tennis. This result greatly encouraged the Japanese media, and expressions such as "making the whole country boil" and "breaking through the fortress of the Ping-Pong Kingdom" appeared on the front pages of major newspapers. The strong performance of Japanese table tennis players in the Olympic Games, in addition to the advantages of the host, Xinhua News Agency reporters through interviews with a number of industry insiders, believe that there are the following reasons.
China's Xu Xin (rear left) / Liu Shiwen in the match on July 26. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zheng Huansong
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State appropriation model
Seedling selection is getting early
Li Jun, a former Chinese national team player who opened table tennis classrooms in Japan and served as a university lecturer, believes that the steady improvement of Japan's table tennis strength is largely due to the government-funded Olympic elite academy system that began 13 years ago, and Chinese coaches are the main training force of elite colleges.
Li Jun went to Japan in 1992 and has been working as a lecturer at the Nippon Sport University for 12 years since he opened the Yujia Table Tennis Club in Tokyo. She said that since 2008, the Japanese state has allocated funds to create the "Japan Olympic Committee Elite Academy", dedicated to the training of Olympic and World Series players, the most notable of which is the ping-pong team. The academy's table tennis team, in the age group of 12 to 17 years old, selects seedlings from all over the country who are promising to impact the Olympic Games for intensive training, and asks Chinese coaches to carry out "one-on-one" or "one-on-two" training.
She said that in recent years, Japan's "selection of seedlings" has a tendency to become earlier and earlier, and the "quasi-elite" even advance to below elementary school. "Children under the age of 7 in Japan have national competitions, there are training, and when good seedlings are found, they are intensively trained, generally more than four times a year, one lasts for one week, and the training camp also has physical fitness classes, nutrition classes, psychology classes, etc."
She said that Japan's elite academies and national teams will also change coaches more frequently, because this can continuously absorb the strengths and strengths of each person and better improve the ability of players. The Japan Table Tennis Association has always paid attention to the shortcomings of the players themselves, and then found a Chinese coach who is excellent in this regard for targeted training.
Japan's Yoshinori Ishikawa and Miyu Hirano (right) compete in the women's table tennis team final at the Tokyo Olympics on August 5. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Dongzhen
One of the Japanese women's team players at the Olympic Games, Miyu Hirano, was the first Chinese coach Liu Jie after entering the elite academy, from the Yujia Table Tennis Club. "In 2013, a person in charge of the Japan Table Tennis Association came to our club and asked Liu Jie by name. At that time, Hirano Miyu graduated from elementary school and was about to enter the elite college, and the Japan Table Tennis Association helped her find Liu Jie as a full-time coach. After teaching for more than a year, Hirano rose from nearly 200 in the world ranking to 32nd. ”
Wei Qingguang, a former Chinese player who won the men's doubles gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, is now the head coach of the elite college table tennis men's team, and he said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency that the elite college table tennis team now has a total of 5 students, the men's team has two women's teams, three women's teams, two men's teams are junior high school students, and the women's team is two high school students and one junior high school student. The head coaches of the men's and women's teams are all Chinese, and the coaches are mainly Chinese, basically realizing the "one-on-one" between coaches and players. They take cultural classes from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. every day, train from 10:00 to 12:30 p.m., and train again from 3:30 to 7:00 p.m.
Wei Qingguang data map. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang Jingda
Wei Qingguang said that this system was established two years before the Tokyo Olympics, when students used to go to their respective schools and practice at 3:30 p.m. In preparation for the Tokyo Olympics, they trained and studied at the Olympic Committee training base in Tokyo's Kita Ward all day. These trainees also participated in the selection of the Tokyo Olympic Games, and although they did not qualify this time, the future is expected. The main goal of the trainees is to compete abroad and earn points, rarely participate in domestic competitions, and will go abroad to compete about 10 times a year. The JOC Elite Academy's funding covers tuition fees, accommodation, and participation fees.
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Folk enthusiasm is high
The cost of cultivation is not high
In the Japanese table tennis cultivation system, corporate sponsorship and corporate teams also play an important role, this system to absorb players as members, after retirement recommended work, for the players to solve the worries. Among the japanese active national team players, Hirano Miyu belongs to the Japan Life Insurance Company team and has 7 sponsors. Ito is part of a real estate company and has five other sponsors. Zhang Benzhi and the team belonging to the real estate company Kinoshita Group have received sponsorship from Toyota Motor and others.
According to reports, many Japanese athletes' sponsoring companies have absorbed them as members after they graduated from university, so that athletes have employment guarantees after retirement, basically have no worries, and can devote themselves to sports careers.
Li Jun believes that in terms of table tennis, the selection and training system is becoming more and more diverse, and the opportunities for athletes are increasing. The Yuka Table Tennis Club, which she founded in the west of Tokyo, has won the first and third places in the Japan Under-12 Table Tennis Tournament in Tokyo in recent years, the 16th place in the country, and the Kanto Team Championship, and has sent a number of players to the Japanese national youth team.
Yujia Club is an adult table tennis enthusiast playing in the morning, most of them are over 70 years old, they all like table tennis, the oldest is an 83-year-old lady. Some of them come to the club a few times a week, and some come to the club every day. In the afternoon, children from the first grade to the second grade of primary school come to learn ball and practice, usually once a week, and the children who aim to participate in the competition come every day.
Data chart: On April 26, 2001, the main player of the Japanese team, Junko Yu jia (former beijing team player Li Jun), was in the 46th World Table Tennis Championships held in Osaka, Japan. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Jianli (digital fax photo)
Li Jun said that in Japan, there are two "mother groups" who are keen to play ball, one is the mother of the 30-year-old of the primary school student, they play with their children, and the mother group of the 50s whose children have graduated from college, and there are many people who love table tennis, "the hobbies of the elders have affected many children."
She said that the cost of training children to play table tennis in Japan is not high, and the children who aim to compete come to play for three and a half hours a day, 15 and 16 children together, equipped with 3 or 4 coaches, and the tuition is lower than that of the general cram school. Taking "one-on-one" lessons is a bit more expensive, and the competitions are all at their own expense, but the average family can afford it.
Li Jun said that most of the children who come to play are out of interest, "They come to play after class, such as training at 5 o'clock, they come at 4 o'clock, they warm up and start, no need to wait for the coach to come, no need to supervise, very conscious, they will think about it and enjoy the game." ”
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Relative to the Chinese players,
Where is the gap between Japanese players?
The Chinese table tennis team won 4 gold and 3 silver in this Olympic Games, and the status of table tennis supremacy cannot be shaken. Regarding the gap between Japanese table tennis players and Chinese players, Wei Qingguang said that the training time of Japanese students is similar to that of Chinese athletes, but because Chinese athletes have better basic skills and more batting boards per hour, the training volume of Japanese athletes is still unable to catch up with Chinese athletes.
Chinese players Ma Long (center), Xu Xin (right) and Fan Zhendong at the award ceremony of the men's table tennis team at the Tokyo Olympic Games on August 6. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang Zongzhi
Li Jun believes that an important reason for the strength of Chinese players is "team advantage". "From the perspective of those of us insiders, the talents of Chinese and Japanese athletes are comparable, but the Chinese team-style training methods and the think tank behind them have pushed Chinese players to the Olympic champion and the world champion throne." China has a team, and the collective force is very strong. ”
As for the place where Japanese players are most likely to pose a threat to the Chinese team in the future, Wei Qingguang believes that "serving" is a very important link.
"Japanese table tennis attaches great importance to serve training, and relatively speaking, it also has certain advantages in this regard. Japan can only look for breakthroughs in other aspects such as catching serves and catching 'fast hitting'. Ito's way of playing is to take advantage of 'fast'. ”
Editors: Liu Yang, Peng Dong, Niu Mengtong, Lu Yuchen, Xiao Ruixuan (Intern)