Wei Zhuzhu won the Men’s Singles title and Bai Shuang captured the counterpart Women’s Singles crown.
The
names are of course Chinese and players from that country winning
titles is nothing new; the difference is that they were not playing on
home soil, nor were they playing in one of the hotbeds of Asian or
European table tennis.
They were playing in a country whose total population does not equate to the number of table tennis players in China.
Harmony
The country in
question is Ecuador, the event was the monthly Grand Prix tournament at
the High Performance Training Centre in Guayaquil and nobody was upset,
annoyed or disappointed that players from China had won the event.
Quite
simply it gave table tennis in the South American country another major
boost; seven television companies, three radio stations and a plethora
of journalists arrived to cover the event.
Local Community
Also,
the local Chinese community came in force to welcome the four young
players from the Hebei Training School, in Shijiazhuang, two hours by
train from Beijing to their adopted country.
Two boys, 14 year
old Wei Zhuzhu and 17 year old Wang Hengyu plus two girls both 17 years
old, Bai Shuang and Liang Fang are now resident at the High Performance
National Training Centre in Guayaquil.
On Going Agreement
They
are present as members of a six months on going programme following an
agreement between the Hebei Training School and the Ecuador Table
Tennis Federation.
At the end of the six months period, the
players may return home or stay for another six months, those who elect
to return will be replaced.
Advice Heeded
It
is another step forward for Ecuador who have heeded the advice of
Mikael Andersson, the Executive Director for Education & Training,
when he was present at the Opening Ceremony for the High Performance
Training Centre in May 2007. Basically his words were aim high and
thing long term.
Since Mikael’s visit a great deal has happened,
a veritable revolution. The National Olympic Committee has totally
renovated the venue; Stag has supplied 20 tables and a court mat; now
the Chinese have arrived!
Step Forward
Another
step has been made; what many doubted was not possible is now a reality
and for Jeanine Cuadros, President of the Ecuador Table Tennis
Federation, it is forwards towards her goals.
"I’m not interested in silver or bronze medals", she said firmly. "Winning is what matters!"
Positive thinking, brave actions; table tennis is the example for sport in Ecuador and the Chinese are very happy.
Warm Welcome
The
charming girls from Ecuador always greet the boys with a kiss on the
cheek and the gallant boys of course do the same for the girls.
Life for Wei Zhuzhu, Wang Hengyu, Bai Shuang and Liang Fang has never been better!
Source: www.ittf.com
