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Kong Linghui, the Chinese former (前) table tennis genius who claimed gold metals for ping pong at
three world-level events, said during his career (一生事业) that he had two wishes: to be an "ever-green
tree" in the table tennis field; and to contribute to the Olympic Games in his homeland.
One of those wishes is soon to come true. On the morning of October 18 last year the Chinese champion,
who won the World Table Tennis Championships, Table Tennis World Cup, and Olympic Games, boarded
a bus to the table tennis training base in Zhengding, Hebei Province. He was about to spend his 31st birthday
as coach of the Chinese women's ping pong team for the Beijing Olympic Games.
A week earlier Kong had made an emotional announcement that he was retiring. "I really don't want to
drop my ping pong bat," he said, before following with the news about his new coaching role, to a burst of
applause (掌声).
"I'm so excited and this applause gives me great encouragement to switch from a player to a coach," he
added.
"It's still hard for the young table tennis players in Sweden to surpass (超过) the veteran Waldner if they
want to continue their career, but it's not the same here in China, where young ping pong talents keep
popping up and overtaking the old generation."
The game of table tennis first appeared in the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988. Since then China has
claimed 11 gold medals, and in many Chinese fans' eyes nothing but first place is good enough. It is a
position that puts a huge amount of pressure on Kong as he prepares the women's team for 2008.
"I think he's going to be a good coach based on his presence and glorious past achievements. He's going
to make a difference in the Beijing Games," said Liu Guoliang, one of Kong's ex-teammates and now coach
of the national men's team.
Kong's father is also a table tennis coach. He started playing ping pong when he was 6 years old. During
his 25-year career Kong produced many memorable moments of table tennis brilliance, of which two
definitely deserve mentioning.
One was in 1995, when the 20-year-old Kong won his first men's singles title in gripping style at the
World Table Tennis Championships. Another was at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 when he defeated
Swedish star Waldner by a tiny margin (差距) and then kissed the Chinese national flag printed on his
T-shirt, howled and burst into tears.
Kong's story cannot be told without mentioning Liu Guoliang, who is one year younger, but was already
lead coach for the Chinese men's team when Kong took on his new role. They met each other for the first
time at the national training camp for juniors at the end of 1987.
In the round robin of the team Liu defeated Kong. Rather than turning Kong against Liu, his defeat
brought the pair closer and they worked together vowing to some day become world champions.
In 1995 Kong beat Liu in the male singles final at the 43rd World Table Tennis Championships. Stepping
down from the winner's platform, Kong shook hands with Liu and said to him that competition is cruel, on
which Liu agreed. It marked the beginning of a friendly rivalry between the close friends that lasted years.
1. Kong Linghui will act as a ______ for China in 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. [ ]
A. player
B. coach
C. reporter
D. businessman
2. Waldner is a (an) ______ ping pong player in ______. [ ]
A. young; China
B. old; Sweden
C. old; China
D. young；Sweden
3. The game of table tennis has been an event of Olympic Games for ______. [ ]
A. about 100 years
B. nearly 20 years
C. about 4 years
D. more than 20 years
4. Which of the following is true according to the passage? [ ]
A. Liu Guoliang hates Kong Linghui.
B. Liu GuoLiang beated Waldner at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.
C. Kong Linghui is older than Liu Guoliang.
D. Kong Linghui became a coach earlier than Liu Guoliang.
