China's coaches say they are banking valuable lessons from the world team table tennis championships as they set about honing their strategies for this year's Beijing Olympics.
China's men downed South Korea 3-0 to clinch the team title on Sunday, a day after the women fought off Singapore 3-1 for the crown, to remain undisputed giants of the sport.
But both teams revealed chinks in their normally impenetrable armor during the tournament, problems they will immediately work to resolve before the Games where anything short of total dominance will be considered a failure.
PHOTO: EPA
"We gained a lot of valuable experience for the Olympics playing at this tournament in Guangzhou," men's coach Liu Guoliang said.
World champion Wang Liqin suffered a shock defeat in his opening match to Romania's Andrei Filimon, ranked just 74 in the world, while women's world champion Guo Yue was stunned by Singapore's Li Jia-wei in the final.
"Guo is an excellent player but great pressure undermined her performance. I hope she will draw a lesson from the match and grow more mature in the future," women's coach Shi Zhihao said. "Our players did as well as usual but there are some details to be improved. I hope people have noticed that a lot of foreign players posed a threat to us."
Singapore, however, played down any chance of dethroning China, coach Liu Guo-dong saying after the final that a large gap still separated the two.
While arch rivals South Korea will be challenging hard on the men's side at the Olympics, Japan also signalled their intentions this week with outstanding performances from young paddlers Jun Mizutani and Kaii Yoshida.
Japan finished third after downing powerhouse Germany on the road to the finals, before their dream run was thwarted by South Korea in the semi-finals.
The bronze contrasts with their 14th place finish at the last worlds.
Japan coach Yoshihito Miyazaki said Japan were aiming to become a team that even formidable China were a little afraid to play.
Germany also showed their colors, reaching the quarters without injured European champion and world No. 5 Timo Boll.
Hong Kong also pose a threat on the women's and men's side after both were stopped in the semis by China.
China's Liu said there would be little rest between now and the Games, with Wang Liqin battling in Olympic qualifiers in Hong Kong to secure a third spot on the China team, before they all headed to the Kuwait Open later this month.
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