"China has all the top players. China is on top of the mountain. Nobody can beat them."

Gao uses a traditional Chinese style, holding her paddle like a pen rather than a knife.

"For me I have only speed. I don't have too much spin. They (Chinese) have spin and speed. Right now they have everything," Gao said.

Gao has played in China before and knows what it is like to have fans yell against her. At the 2005 Worlds at Shanghai she began to feel sympathy after taking a lead on a favored Chinese rival.

"I understand the hard competition in China. If she would lose to me she might never get another chance," Gao said. "I got three games ahead and I started thinking I would kill her future.

"My coach said I can't think this way. If she wants a future she must win it for herself. I couldn't give it to her so that's what I did and I won. I think it hurt her chances."

(Agencies via China Daily July 23, 2008)