Ni Xialian helped the Chinese team win a gold medal at the 1983 world table tennis championships. But even that was not enough to convince her coaches that she could forge a career alongside the best players in her country. So she left.
Last week, at 53, Ni competed in her third Olympics for Luxembourg, her adopted home since 1991. In a sport that rewards the skill of subtle anticipation, her unconventional move 25 years ago has proved prescient.
Back then, there was only a trickling migration of players from China to certain countries in Europe.
But that movement has grown into a full-fledged, far-flung diaspora of athletes on six continents that has reshaped the landscape of the sport.
At the Rio Olympics, Chinese-born table tennis players represented China, as well as 21 other countries — including Singapore — out of 56 in the tournament. Of the 172 table tennis players at the Games, at least 44 were born in China.
Many sports at the Olympics feature athletes born outside the country they represent. The US, for example, has dozens of such athletes, across more than 20 sports. But table tennis is an outlier: About a third of its participants this summer were born outside the nation they are representing. All other sports are far behind.
No two athletes’ stories or circumstances are the same. But considered together, the list of Chinese-born table tennis players highlights the huge scope of China’s influence in the sport and illustrates a most pressing question: Is this the best way for table tennis to grow?
“It’s not a problem,” said International Table Tennis Federation president Thomas Weikert. “It’s an issue.”
At these Olympics, it has been business as usual. Ding Ning of China beat compatriot Li Xiaoxia to win the women’s singles gold medal. Ma Long of China defeated team-mate Zhang Jike to win the men’s. On Tuesday, the Chinese women won the team gold, and the men should do the same this morning.
China has now won 27 of the 31 gold medals awarded in all competitions since table tennis was added to the Olympics in 1988. Eight years ago in Beijing, China won the gold, silver and bronze medals in both men’s and women’s singles. In 2012, after a new rule was instituted limiting singles competitions to two players from each nation, China merely swept the gold and silver medals.
MAINLAND’S STIFF COMPETITION
One by-product of China’s dominance has been an extremely large group of talented players who are not quite good enough to play in the national programme. In China, provincial clubs draw players from city teams before sending their best to the national programme. Only the best 50 men and best 50 women reach the top.
“There was too much competition,” said Ni, who left the national team in 1986 to attend college, before joining a professional club in Germany in 1989. “I didn’t have the courage anymore.”
Such decisions became widely possible only after economic reforms in China in 1978 loosened the rules for overseas movement and work.
Before the 1988 Olympics, US team coach Massimo Costantini was playing for Italy in a tournament when he encountered Ding Yi, who had moved from China to Austria. Costantini lost, and he remembered the other players, coaches and fans feeling bewildered. “We were shocked, actually, to be playing against someone Chinese,” said Costantini.
Ding played in four Olympics for Austria, and the trend only grew. Players facing dim prospects in China have increasingly sought to extend their careers in other countries eager to host them.
“After I lost my opportunity to get into the Chinese national team, I was still young, I still had my dream,” said Eugene Wang, 30, who was offered a spot on the Canadian team shortly before the 2012 Games.
Marcos Madrid, a player from Mexico, sighed and smiled when asked how players felt about the spread of Chinese players worldwide. “It’s complicated,” he said, echoing the sentiments of many players in the game.
Everyone acknowledges how far ahead China remains in terms of training and skill. The thinking for many national federations, then, has been that having such skilled players and coaches — beyond giving them a chance to win competitions in the short term — will raise the skill levels of their other players. “I know I need to practise more because they are there,” Madrid said.
Because there are simply not enough good players to measure oneself against, Chinese players often double as coaches and valuable sparring partners in their adopted countries. A coach in Luxembourg initially, Ni only began playing full-time again when it became clear she was the country’s best player.
“I feel that it’s great that they can help other players improve,” said Ma, the world’s top men’s player.
OWN INTERESTS
At the same time, many players become irked when the spirit of competition seems to be undermined.
Players notice when recently-transferred athletes appear interested only in furthering their own careers, or fail to show enthusiasm about their new homes, or spend most of their time in their home countries. Such judgments seem hard to make. Circumstances vary hugely from player to player.
Some players, for example, move when they are young and thus develop easy, deep ties to their new countries. Gui Lin, 22, who represented Brazil, moved from China to Brazil at age 12 on an exchange programme. She ended up staying to play table tennis.
“I feel totally adapted to Brazil; all my colleagues consider me Brazilian,” said Gui, speaking crisp Portuguese. “But I can’t forget that I’m Chinese also, because I was born there. But for me I think this is a really unique experience, to be born in one country but grow up in another one.”
Then there are the many players like Li Ping, 30, who left the Chinese national team only last year to compete for Qatar.
“I don’t think it’s important which country you’re representing,” said Li, who was ranked 28th in the world before the Olympics. “The important thing is to be able to participate in the Olympics and demonstrate your abilities on the competition grounds.”
In the end, it is hard for anyone to articulate which players are considered to have switched national allegiances the “right way”.
That is why Weikert feels further adjustment of the rules is necessary before the next Olympics.
At the moment, players who switch allegiances after turning 21 are not eligible to play in the world championships, the World Cup and the World Team Cup. But they are allowed to play in the Olympics.
Weikert would like a single rule that allowed a player to compete for a new country after a lengthy period of residence. “It doesn’t mean we can change the rule immediately,” Weikert said, noting that 222 national associations would need to vote.
Whether the rule changes or not, Weikert said he would like to do more to change the global imbalance in skill. “Of course, it’s difficult for a sport if only one nation is winning,” he said. “But this is not the fault of the Chinese. The others have to practise hard.” THE NEW YORK TIMES
NUMBERS
21
Chinese-born table tennis players represented 21 other countries – including Singapore – out of 56 at the Rio Games.
44
Of the 172 table tennis players at Rio, at least 44 were born in China. But only three play for China.
Source: TODAY Online
