What is it with China and table tennis?

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BEIJING -- The massive crowd falls silent as the Chinese doubles team begins to serve.It's Wang serving.Of course it's Wang serving.The Chinese doubles team consists of two men named Wang. Try beating the feared Wang-Wang team in table tennis in Beijing.Or anywhere, for that matter. Try beating the Chinese table tennis team anywhere."It's our strategy that we must win the gold medal," said Liu Guoliang, the coach.Nice strategy, eh? We must win."To show the power of the country," said Liu.Now go get 'em boys!So they packed into the Peking University Gymnasium Monday night to watch the Chinese table tennis team play the German table tennis team for the gold.You could call it the Super Bowl of China except they play the Super Bowl every year. They don't give out gold medals in table tennis every year. They certainly don't give them out in China, where table tennis is a part of the firmament."Ping Pong is a voice," says Thomas Chin, one of roughly 1.3 billion Chinese fans. "Your side says ping, my side says pong."Poetic, eh?Now some poetry from the late Chairman Mao: "Regard a Ping-Pong ball as the head of your capitalist enemy. Hit it with your socialist bat and you have won the point for the Fatherland."Oh, and remember to have fun out there! This is how table tennis got cranking in China, as the official sport of the Communist State. Mao figured it would help build national pride and a billion Ping Pong paddles bloomed.China won its first world title in 1959. Forty-nine years later, it dominates table tennis like no other country dominates any other sport.The five best players in the world are Chinese. The number three player in the world couldn't even make the Chinese Olympic team.There are 86 table tennis athletes in Beijing. Forty-nine of them were born in China, including all five members of the United States team."I don't think that I loved to play," said Gao Jun, one of the Americans, explaining how she wound up at a Chinese table tennis academy as a kid. "But you can't say no to the parents in China. When the parents say, 'You have to go there,' we go."Oh, and remember to have fun out there!So the Chinese take this sport seriously. You getting this idea?The Chinese women's team won the gold medal Sunday without losing a match."I was very nervous before the final because table tennis is our national pride and we must take the title," said Wang Nan.Must take the title. As a strategy, it seems to work.So here came the men's team, the Dream Team, including:1) Wang Liquin. When he lost a match in 2000, the national coach called him "brainless.""I understood his frustrations," Wang said.2) Chen Qi. After losing a match in 2005, he threw a ball and kicked a chair. He was forced to apologize on national television and then dispatched to a People's Liberation Boot Camp."I am truly sorry for my actions," he said.3) Wang Hao. In January, 2004, it was discovered that Wang was dating Fan Ying, another member of the national team. Fan Ying was promptly expelled from the team and sent back to her province.Wang Hao played in the 2004 Olympic Games and China won the gold."We will win tonight as well," said Feng Qui, one of the thousands of fans gathered outside the Peking Gymnasium Monday night.This wasn't meant as a boast, particularly, just a statement of fact. The sun will rise in the East tomorrow. The Yangtze will run to the sea. The Chinese will win the gold medal in table tennis. Some things are certainties.The Chinese needed a certainty, too, after the stunning events of the day. Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang - the most revered Chinese athlete other than Yao Ming - withdrew from of the Olympics with a hamstring pull. Volunteers crowded around the televisions in the media center as the news broke. Many of them wept."Yes, many people cried," said Feng. "My girlfriend cried."He shrugged."You will see the flags raise and listen to the anthem tonight," he said.Not the German anthem, either. Officials passed out a sheet outlining the results of all previous matches between the two teams: China 17, Germany 0.More than 7,500 packed into the arena. Shortly before 7:30, the competitors marched into the gym.And then, well, let's just say that the heads of the capitalist enemies took a real pummeling. The Chinese won, 3-0.They were just better, really. That's the easiest way to put it. The Germans would fall behind, and call timeout to consult with their coach, and you wondered what the coach could possibly say."Be born in China next time!""You're German, what do you expect?""Use your capitalist bat to hit the . . . awww, never mind."This was a celebration more than anything, of China and the national sport. The place rocked, and flags waved, and there would be rickshaws overturned this night.OK, no rickshaws. That's not a Chinese thing to do.But the flag rose, and the anthem played and a translator helped with the press conference."Our strategy is to win all the medals," said Liu, the coach.How will anyone stop that?(Contact Geoff Calkins of The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn., at calkins(at)commercialappeal.com.)