Powerhouse China suffered a triple blow in the table tennis tournament of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games Wednesday as the Europeans, spearheaded by Swedish veteran Jan-Ove Waldner, bounced back to dominate in men's doubles.
The nearly 2,000 spectators in the Galatsi Olympic Hall in northwest Athens, venue for the Olympic table tennis tournament, witnessed the revival of a legend as the 39-year-old Waldner incredibly beat the all-mighty Chinese twice in one day and shut three top-seeded Chinese players out of the singles and doubles quarterfinals.
Chinese veteran Kong Linghui and his young partner Wang Hao were the first to fall victim to the sudden and quite unexpected outburst of the aging Swede, who coordinated with his old pal, 38-year-old Jorgen Persson perfectly and beat the Chinese pair 4-1 Wednesday afternoon.
While the Chinese were licking their wounds and wondering what had actually happened on the court, Waldner launched his second attack in the singles, delivering a shocking 4-1 upset to world No.2 Ma Lin, one of the top favorites for the singles gold in this tournament.
"It was an unbelievable day, a fantastic day," said the Swede after completing his "mission impossible".
"The last time I played like this in doubles was 7 or 8 years ago, for singles it was also 3 or 4 years," claimed Waldner, a five-time Olympian who was crowned singles champion in Barcelona 1992 and also won a silver in Sydney 2000.
Nevertheless, the Swede, now in the last eight of both men's events, said that his goal in Athens was only to take one medal, be it from singles or doubles. "And there is still a long, long way," he added.
The Swede's double victory, which came after three bitter losses to the Chinese by European veterans like Trinko Keen, Jorg Rossko pf and Zoran Primorac, gave a big boost to the Europeans' morale and contributed to a European superiority in the men's doubles quarterfinals.
There were five European pairs in the last eight of men's doubles as China only had one pair, Ma Lin and Chen Qi, left to defend the title China had won rather easily in Sydney through an all-Chinese final.
The other major upset for the Chinese came from women's singles fourth round, as their world No. 3 singles player Niu Jianfeng was denied a position in the quarterfinals after conceding four straight games to world-40th-ranked DPR Korean Kim Hyang Mi Wednesday evening.
Till her Wednesday defeat, Niu had failed to display a satisfactory form with which she had taken the singles title in last year's pro tour finals. Now she will have to fight really hard with her 16-year-old partner Guo Yue in the doubles in order to attain her pre-Games goal of "bringing at least one Olympic gold home".
Despite the three losses, the star-studded Chinese team remained the biggest winner of the day with two pairs in women's doubles semifinals and two players each in men's and women's singles quarterfinals.
"They (the Chinese) nearly have everything, so if someone beat them once or twice, it's good for the sport," said Waldner after his Wednesday wins.
Chinese team officials also commented that "it was just normal" to lose a few matches in a major tournament like the Olympic Games, where "anything could happen".
Meanwhile, Asian players have assumed dominance in all events except the men's doubles after Wednesday's competition. They have taken seven berths in the women's singles quarterfinals, leaving only one for Tamara Boros of Croatia. The Chinese and the South Koreans even turned the two semifinal matches in women's doubles into their domestic affairs.
Even in men's singles where Waldner gained his new glory, there were only two Europeans in the last eight, with Timo Boll of Germany being the Swede's sole company. More unfortunately, the two will have an early meeting in the quarterfinal stage.
(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2004)
