[Archive] Cai Zhenhua: “To secure new victories, you must first beat the old version of yourself.”

At the 2001 World Championships in Osaka, China swept all events and demonstrated to the world its status as a “table tennis kingdom.” However, at the 2002 Asian Games, it managed to win only three of seven events, exposing the difficulty of adapting to the 11-point game and the new service rules.
We spoke directly with China’s general coach, Cai Zhenhua, who was conducting “sealed training” in Beijing, the capital, to ask about his determination ahead of the Paris World Championships.

Cai Zhenhua / Cai Zhenhua
Tsai Chen-hua
Born September 3, 1961, in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. He represented China at the World Championships from 1981 to 1985. After retiring, he studied coaching in Italy, then returned home and served as a coach for the China national team before being appointed head coach. From 1997, he served as general coach; from 2000, he became vice president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, while also serving as deputy director of the Table Tennis and Badminton Management Center of the State General Administration of Sport and vice chairman of the China Youth Association (as of 2003).

Always study what is new and adapt to it. That is why China remained strong for so long.

　The history of table tennis in the world is also a history of always creating rules to curb the team that is too strong at a given time. Against Japan, for example, rule changes were introduced in the 1950s during its heyday, such as banning the sponge and limiting rubber thickness. After that came rule changes aimed at China. Restrictions on different-color rubbers on both sides, the body-hide service, and the thickness ratio of pimpled rubber are also part of that. And the major rule changes introduced over the past two years — the 11-point game and the new service rules — are, in a sense, also a way of cracking down on China, with the overwhelmingly strong Chinese side becoming the target of regulation.　

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Cai Zhenhua　Table tennis certainly has a history of 100 years, but China only began to make its mark on the world 50 years ago. The reason China is strong is that, in every era, it has had clear goals and a distinctly challenging mindset. It always studies what is new and adapts to it. That is why China remained strong for so long. For example, the previous World Championships and the Olympics were results we should be satisfied with. Perhaps this favorable period can continue for another two or three years, but at the same time, in situations like this, it is true that China itself tends to lose its challenging spirit and become less stimulated. In a sense, the rule changes have given us strong motivation and new goals. We have to think of even more new things and keep taking on challenges. Looked at positively, that is what it means.