The H.I.S. 2009 World Table Tennis Championships have not yet
started, but there is already a deception for the French delegation.
Abdel-Kader Salifou will not be in Yokohama due to back pain.
The
19 year old Salifou is one of the fastest climbing players in the ITTF
World Ranking, currently on position 167. Salifou has won the U21 Pro
Tour event in Slovenia this year and attracted attention at the Danish
Open where he eliminated Jean-Michel Saive.
Unknown Origin of Pain
While
Germany’s Timo Boll seems to have his pain in the lumbar column under
control, another European male player has darker prospects. Abdel-Kader
Salifou, one of the poster boys of the new strong French generation,
suffers pain.
"It’s not mainly that I’ll miss the World
Championships that worries me", Salifou was quoted in a press release
sent by the French Table Tennis Association, "it’s the fact that I’ve
been suffering for eight months without knowing the nature of the pain."
The
withdrawal was the logical consequence of an unsatisfying preparation.
Men’s coach Stéphane Hucliez: "Although taking care he could not effect
the preparation for the World Championships. However, it is a major
event one has to prepare seriously."
No Doubles with Legout
Salifou’s
out has also an influence on Christophe Legout. The last of the
"oldies" in the French team will not contest in the Men’s Doubles,
because he just has no partner. Legout still has the Men’s Singles and
the Mixed Doubles events in Yokohama.
Abdel-Kader Salifou for
his part is yearning for a solution of his backache. "First of all I
shall rest and look for what I have", Salifou says about his plans of
the near future, "only then I will be able to make a programme. It
could last one month as well as several months, I don’t know."
Optimism
sounds different, but the young Salifou is not in a hurry, his whole
table tennis career is yet to come. First of all he has to be free from
pain, also to master his everyday life.
Source: www.ittf.com
