NEW YORK: China's table tennis team head to the Paris Olympics on a mission to re-establish their complete dominance of the sport with a clean sweep of the gold medals on offer after their shock defeat by Japan in the mixed doubles event at the Tokyo Games.
Paris offers China's dream team a shot at redemption after Japan's Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito upset them in the first-ever mixed doubles final at the COVID-delayed Games three years ago.
The defeat marked the first time China had failed to win every table tennis title at an Olympics since South Korea's Ryu Seung Min claimed gold in the men's singles at the 2004 Athens Games.
It did not go down well back home.
"Team China puts in more effort than any team to be as prepared as possible, so failure is not an option," table tennis commentator Adam Bobrow told Reuters.
"If there's any final, men or women, in singles that is not two Chinese players, that will be massive news."
China have won 32 of the 37 golds and 60 of the 115 total medals since table tennis was introduced to the Summer Olympics in 1988.
The world's top four men and women's singles players are all from China, where the sport is a national obsession.
Such is the Asian superpower's strength-in-depth that reigning men's Olympic singles champion Ma Long will not defend his title in Paris.
Instead, Ma, the most celebrated player of his generation, who also won gold in Rio in 2016, will take part in the team event, with China's hopes in the men's singles resting on world No. 1 Wang Chuqin and reigning world champion Fan Zhendong.
Top-ranked Sun Yingsha is the favourite for the women's singles title, but the Chinese contingent will face new and old challengers from neighbouring Japan.
Japan's Hayata Hina returns to lead a strong Japanese squad without Tokyo mixed doubles gold medallist Ito, while rising star Tomokazu Harimoto will be gunning for the men's singles title.
Harimoto's younger sister, Miwa, will also make her Olympic debut in the team event, but the Japanese pair will not be the only table tennis siblings competing in Paris.
France, with home-court advantage, are a dark horse in the team event, with all eyes on brothers Felix and Alexis Lebrun, who are 17 and 20 respectively.
The duo's rapid ascent to the top of the sport has captivated the host nation, as well as Liu Guoliang, who now heads the Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA).
Liu said the Lebrun brothers were a "prominent rival to China in the coming decade" in an interview with China's CCTV.
Alexis, who is ranked 16th in the world, 11 places below his younger brother, has one of the best records against Chinese players, said Bobrow, who described the older Lebrun as "creative and powerful."
"It's tough to have people on the other side of the table that play such an unpredictable style," Bobrow added.
The competition, which runs from July 27 to Aug. 10, sees 172 athletes battle across five events and will also mark the end of the storied international career of Timo Boll.
The 43-year-old German, a twice Olympic silver medallist in the team event, made his first Olympic appearance at Sydney in 2000 and will become only the sixth player to appear at seven different Games. - REUTERS