［Archive: Soliloquy of Xu Yinsheng Vol. 3］“We learned the words ‘without advance, there is retreat’ from failure”

To listen to Xu Yinsheng, a witness to the history of Chinese table tennis, a few hours of interview was far too short. Even so, he took aim at the taboo “winner manipulation” issue in the Chinese table tennis world. A question that would once have made people hesitate even to speak aloud, he answered it deftly.

The Chinese table tennis world has changed. That is probably because the Chinese society surrounding table tennis has changed dramatically. In the midst of that upheaval, Xu Yinsheng looked to the flow of history and sent messages to the world, and to Japan. ＜2009＞

Translation = Iseki Kinuko, Xie Jing, Yanagisawa Taro  Photo = Takahashi Kazuhiro  Cooperation = Ping Pong World

We learned the words “without advance, there is retreat” from failure. Especially in our period of peak strength, we must fully anticipate the trends in the development of table tennis

Xu Yinsheng / Xu Yinsheng (Jo Insei)
Born May 12, 1938, from Shanghai. Youngest of eight siblings. His playing style was right-handed penhold, short-pips fast attack. In 1955, while enrolled at Shanghai Guangda Middle School, he joined the Shanghai student team; the following year he joined the Shanghai city team. In 1959, he joined the national team and made his first appearance at that year’s World Championships in Dortmund. At the 26th World Table Tennis Championships in 1961, he contributed as a key player for the men’s team to China’s first men’s team victory. He competed in four consecutive World Championships through the 1965 Ljubljana event. He won a total of four gold medals: three in men’s team and one in men’s doubles. His clever style of play earned him praise as “Zhiduoxing.” In 1977, he became deputy director of the State Physical Culture and Sports Commission (now the General Administration of Sport) and vice minister of sports; in 1979, he became the second president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association and served for 30 years as a leading figure in Chinese table tennis. In 1995, he succeeded Roro Hamarland as the fifth president of the International Table Tennis Federation (stepped down in 1999). In 2009, he stepped down as president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association and became honorary president of the same association

I think China’s “innovation” in table tennis has also contributed. But Japan used to be even more amazing

　After the 1965 World Championships, China was affected by the domestic power struggle called the “Cultural Revolution,” and the table tennis team disappeared from the international stage, only to return at the 1971 Nagoya event. However, in the 1970s, China itself suffered from the aftereffects. Players such as Li Jingguang, Xi Enting, Liang Geliang, Ge Xinxian, Lu Yuansheng, and Guo Yuehua went through repeated trial and error at every tournament, through reforms to their playing styles, equipment changes, and the appearance of players known as “secret weapons.”

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Xu Yinsheng　Chinese table tennis has always sought change. I think China’s “innovation” in table tennis has also contributed to the development of world table tennis. But Japan used to be even more amazing. When the “phantom” Loop Drive developed by Japan appeared, the world table tennis community was in an uproar. Japan also developed the inverted-rubber surface, didn’t it?

　In recent years, various rule reforms have been introduced to make table tennis a more enjoyable sport to watch, and we sometimes joke that “if we restricted the Loop Drive and banned the use of inverted rubber, table tennis matches would become much more exciting.” Of course, in reality it is the exact opposite. We cannot turn back time, and it would hardly be a match at all.