Dubai
Former world No.1 Swedish star Jorgen Persson feels it’s not impossible to topple the mighty Chinese from their table tennis pedestal.
Persson, who was on a private two-day stopover visit to Dubai earlier this week, said he was convinced players from China are beatable provided the challengers all do the right things to evolve a winning formula.
“In all disciplines, we have someone who seems unbeatable. In golf, we had Tiger Woods and in tennis, we had Roger Federer. However, over a period of time they were beaten by someone and the mask of invincibility fell. We have a similar situation in table tennis with China and the secret lies in hard work and the belief that they can be beaten,” Persson said.
“After that, you have to gradually learn their [China] game so that you can work through a particular weak point to exploit and start beating them at their own game. Sweden did this in the 1990s and I feel the rest of the countries can achieve similar results all over again,” said Persson, the first table tennis player to compete at seven Olympic Games.
Now 48, Persson has represented Sweden at every Olympics since table tennis was introduced into the Olympic programme, a feat that he shares with Zoran Primorac of Croatia and Jean-Michel Saive of Belgium. Persson and Waldner were among the golden generation of Swedish players to shake off the Chinese domination in the 1990s and the early part of the following decade.
Though his best Olympic result was a fourth place at the 2000 Sydney and 2008 Games in Sydney and Beijing, Persson will be long remembered for his two epic finals of the World Championships against fellow Swede Jan-Ove Waldner in 1989 and 1991.
Still active as a player at invitational tournaments around the world, Persson loves to stop in Dubai whenever possible “simply because I love this place”.
“What Dubai has achieved in such a short time is amazing. Perhaps as a resident you may not see it, but I do from a visitor’s point of view. Dubai’s sponsorship of the China table tennis team is such a wise step and such initiatives can only help spread our sport more,” Persson said.
