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news in particular:
23 AUG 2004: Doubles may be dumped in 2008
23 AUG 2004: Korean Ryu upsets Wang for gold
22 AUG 2004: Zhang Yining completes China's golden 100
21 AUG 2004: China beat HK for second gold
20 AUG 2004: Chinese women take doubles title
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| Doubles may be dumped in 2008
Athens (Skysports by Julian Linden, foto: ITTF) - The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) wants to drop the doubles from the next Olympics in Beijing and stop China from winning so many medals.
ITTF president Adham Sharara said the federation plans to replace the pairs in Beijing with a team event.
"We have submitted an official proposal to the IOC regarding changes to be made," Sharara said.
"A decision is expected in 2005 and we are optimistic that it will be a positive one, provided the number of players and judges doesn't change."
China has won 11 of the 12 golds medals decided at the last three Olympics, including Athens, but there are concerns their domination is unhealthy for the sport.
The Chinese invariably win two medals in most events so a new rule was introduced in Athens to prevent players from the the same country meeting in the final.
Under the proposed rule change for Beijing, China's medal count will be reduced because countries will only be allowed to enter one team.
Sharara denied the changes were designed to stop China from winning but conceded countries needed to catch up to them.
"All the changes were made in order to render table tennis more attractive and more modern," he said.
"These changes were made to make the sport more attractive.
"Of course, whenever you make changes the best players are the ones who are affected the most.
"So this means that the changes will affect the Chinese but as you can see they are still winning....and things are only going to change when other countries do as much preparation, training and infrastructure works as the Chinese do."
Webmasters' note: Ditch him. How about to broke legs to Chinese to stop them winning? Or to let Brasilians to play football in seven to stop them winning? To reduce swimming competitions to one to stop Phelps winning? And what to do with Chilean who won both single and double in tennis?
Adham Sharara got his way already with two changes: to increase the ball in order to prolong rallies and to shorten sets not to have so many those long rallies.
I did not met any player nor TT-expert who had confirmed that ball enlargement earned desirable efect. The most visible efect was that everybody had to spent lot of money for immediate balls purchase (with exception of "best players" who are - according to Mr. Sharara - "affected the most").
The overwhelming majorit of players (not only "best players") is pissed of by set-to-11 rule. No space for rallies addressed to spectators. Legends are spoken how it happened with voting in Ósaka...
Malicious and demagogical reasonings of Mr. Sharara ("whenever you make changes the best players are the ones who are affected the most") is sham and mendacious. Maybe this should be "Everything I do I do it for you" message for Ivory Islands, Albania and similar table-tennis countries where it has strengthen Mr. Sharara's position for next voting. Dormant delegates hang their hands again without beeing with the case...
I don't like him.
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| Korean Ryu upsets Wang for gold
Athens (Skysports by Julian Linden, foto: BBC) - ATHENS, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Korea's Ryu Seung-min upset Wang Hao to win gold in the men's singles final and disrupt China's domination of Olympic table tennis.
Ryu won 11-3 9-11 11-9 11-9 11-13 11-9 in a thrilling final to become the first Korean to win the title since Yoo Nam-Kyu at Seoul in 1988, when the sport was included at the Olympics for the first time.
"It was a very good match," Ryu's coach Kim Taek-soo said. "Ryu's strokes against Wang Hao were very strong. Wang was very fast but not faster than us."
Earlier, world number one Wang Liqin won the bronze medal playoff against experienced Swede Jan-Ove Waldner, who was making his last appearance at the Olympics at age 38.
The Chinese won 10-12 11-3 11-8 11-7 11-9 to deny Waldner, who won gold in Barcelona and silver in Sydney, a full set of medals in his last appearance at the Olympics.
Waldner has been to all five Olympics where table tennis has been included but said Athens would be his last.
"It would have been fun to have won the bronze but life goes on," Waldner said. "I'm going to rest for a while then start training again in September.
"I will compete at next year's world championships but I'm not going to take part in the 2008 Olympics."
Wang, the rising star of Chinese table tennis, was a strong favourite to win the final after beating Wang Liqin in the semi-finals but the 20-year-old was unable to repeat that performance on Monday.
"Wang Hao was under immense pressure to win," Chinese head coach Liu Guoliang said. "He had trouble returning Ryu's serves, which were extremely accurate."
Factbox on Ryu Seung-min (South Korea) who won the Olympic gold medal in the men's table tennis singles on Monday.
Age: 22 (date of birth: Aug 5 1982)
Place of birth: Kae-Bong Pong, Korea
Career achievements:
Third at the world championships 2004 team
Third at the world championships 2001 team
Ryu names his uncle as the most influential person in his career as he taught him how to play table tennis. He enjoys listening to music and surfing the internet.
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| Zhang Yining completes China's golden 100
foto: China's Zhang Yining (R) celebrates victory with her coach Li Sun at the women's singles finals match against North Korea's Kim Hyang-Mi at Athens 2004 Olympic Games, August 22, 2004.
ATHENS, Aug 22 (China Daily, foto: Xinhua) - World top-ranked Zhang Yining claimed China's 100th gold medal in summer Olympic Games as she overcame a fast-hitting DPR Korean in the women's table tennis singles final Sunday afternoon.
The historic 100-gold mark was reached after the United States gave a timely helping hand as its shooter Matthew Emmons misfired the last shot to give the men's 50m rifle 3 positions gold to Chinese Jia Zhanbo. Jia's gold was China's 99th since the world's most populous nation ended its Olympic gold drought in 1984.
Zhang played an aggressive topspin game to subdue Kim Kyung Ah in four straight sets (11-8, 11-7, 11-2, 11-2) to win China's 16th table tennis title since the sport's Olympic debut in 1988. It was the second gold for Zhang, who has long been living under the shadow of the 2000 Olympic dual gold medalist Wang Nan. Zhang had combined with Wang to win the women's doubles on Saturday.
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| China beat HK for second gold
ATHENS, Aug 21 (Sky Sports by Paul Eckert) - Top seeds Chen Qi and partner Ma Lin beat Ko Lai-chak and Li Ching of Hong Kong 4-2 on Saturday to take the men's doubles gold medal in table tennis and keep China on track for another Olympic title sweep in Athens.
The Chinese duo from, with boisterous support from a large Chinese crowd, overcame a mid-match comeback by the third seeds to win 11-6 11-9 7-11 11-8 8-11 11-5.
Ko and Li's silver is Hong Kong's first medal at Athens.
"The match was close because the Hong Kong team were well prepared," Ma said. "They are one of the best in the world and the biggest threat to China."
Earlier, Denmark's Michael Maze and Finn Tugwell beat Russians Dmitri Mazunov and Alexei Smirnov 4-2 for the bronze. The 16th-seeded Danes won 11-3 11-8 12-14 3-11 11-9 11-8.
After the final, Hong Kong's Ko said: "We rose above our normal level."
On Friday, China's Wang Nan took her third Olympic gold, teaming up with Zhang Yining to sweep Lee Eun-sil and Seok Eun-mi of South Korea 4-0 in the women's doubles.
China won all the golds and most of the silvers at the last two Olympics in Sydney and Atlanta, prompting a rule-change to keep two teams from the same country from meeting in the final.
Nonetheless, China are still set to sweep gold in all four events for the third time in a row, with Chinese players going strong in both women's and men's singles.
Zhang, the world number one, will face North Korea's Kim Hyang-mi in the women's final on Sunday.
World number one Wang Liqin and Chinese compatriot Wang Hao will meet in the men's semi-finals on Sunday. In the other semi-final, South Korea's Ryu Seung-min will face 1992 Olympic champion Jan-Ove Waldner of Sweden, who took silver in Sydney.
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| Chinese women take doubles title
Athens, Aug 20 by Alan Crosby, SkySports - China's Wang Nan took her third Olympic gold medal on Friday, teaming up with Zhang Yining to beat Lee Eun-sil and Seok Eun-mi of South Korea 4-0 in the women's table tennis doubles.
China won all the golds and most of the silvers at the last two Olympics in Sydney and Atlanta and were expected to dominate the Athens tournament so much the rules were changed so two teams from the same country could not meet in the final.
Wang and Zhang were forced to beat compatriots Guo Yue and Niu Jianfeng in the semi-finals and Guo and Yue took the bronze medal in a close match over the South Korean pair of Kim Bok-rae and Kim Kyung-ah 4-3.
"I was quite disappointed to have lost in the singles. But my coach and I spoke and we said it was more important to win against a team that wasn't Chinese," Wang said referring to her shock quarter-final loss on Thursday.
Wang and Zhang dominated from the start, allowing their opponents little chance to get into the match, winning 11-9 11-7 11-6 11-6.
"We were well prepared, but the Chinese had techniques we were not ready for," said runner-up Seok.
When asked what it is like to be one of China's most recognised sports figures, Wang said: "It's not just me, but every member of our national table tennis team is treated like a superstar in a country where our sport enjoys massive support."
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