Xinhua News Agency, Doha, February 10 (reporter Yang Yuanyong) 29 Chinese table tennis team members have been training here for a week with sweat at Aspar Stadium in Doha, Qatar. After the end of the German Open at the beginning of this month, in view of the domestic new championship pneumonia epidemic, the Chinese Table Tennis Association decided that the team would go directly to the place where the ITTF World Tour Qatar Open will start on March 3, conduct a small group training that is not within the regular arrangement.
After the Qatar Table Tennis Association learned the news that the Chinese team was coming for training, it took only one day to prepare a high-quality living and training environment, including 15 hotels with ball table, team accommodation and meals, as well as the best physical fitness, rehabilitation training facilities and medical equipment, Liu Guoliang, chairman of China Table Tennis Association, was very moved. He expressed special thanks to the chairman of the Qatar Table Tennis Association, the first vice chairman of the ITTF, and the chief executive officer of the ITTF, Shi Danton: “I didn’t expect them to get everything ready in such a short time. The ball table we trained was ball table of the Qatar Open. The Qatar Table Tennis Association took out all the 2,000 RED DOUBLE HAPPINESS table tennis balls in stock for Chinese team to train, and every bit was very warm.”
Shi Danton arrived in Doha at midnight on February 7. When he saw that the Chinese team started training in the local area smoothly, he also felt incredible for the Qatar Table Tennis Association to complete such a large workload in one day. “On the one hand, the International Table Tennis Federation is the management organization of table tennis. On the other hand, we are also shouldering the important task of developing table tennis and need to provide help to all member associations. The world championships will start soon, and there will be Olympic Games this year. Everyone can see the difficult times that the Chinese team is going through. Although we don’t know the trend of the new coronavirus epidemic, as a member of the world table tennis family, we should lend a helping hand to the Chinese team.”
Ka almerhanadi said that after hearing the news of the outbreak of the new Crown pneumonia in China, he was worried that the Chinese team could not participate in the Qatar Open. “For me personally, the Qatar Open without the Chinese team is incomplete, and this year is the 25th anniversary of this event, so I sent a letter to Liu Guoliang, chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, he said he and the Chinese team were welcome to visit Qatar at any time. Last week, we learned that the Chinese team was sure to come to Qatar. We cooperated with the government, venues, hotels, medical treatment, physical fitness and other aspects, and prepared within 24 hours.”
Chinese table tennis men’s team captain and Olympic champion Ma Long said that professional athletes should have the ability to deal with everything, whether training or competition. When he came to Qatar this time, he felt the most meticulous arrangement of international friends, and he was grateful for it. “My first adult open was in Qatar, and later I won four Qatar Open Championships. Doha was very kind to me. I am very grateful to Qatar Table Tennis Association for providing us with such a good training environment.”
In overseas training, the Chinese table tennis team has been paying close attention to the trend of fighting against the new coronavirus epidemic in China. After arriving in Qatar, Liu Guoliang called the International Table Tennis Federation, hoping to launch 226 member associations of the International Table Tennis Federation to find resources such as masks, protective eyewear and protective clothing in the locations of the associations, which were purchased by the China Table Tennis Association. Shi Danton said: “after knowing the situation in China, everyone tried to find a solution for our Chinese friends. We did it in such a short time, very amazing! Whether it is the Chinese team or other teams, if we face major disasters or difficulties, we will do our best to help.”
As for how to face the trend of the new coronavirus epidemic next, Shi Danton said that the International Table Tennis Federation would adjust at any time according to the situation. He said that if the Chinese team could not participate in the competition, the ITTF would seriously consider postponing or canceling the competition.