Why are the Chinese good at ping pong?

I grew up in India and used to play table tennis competitively at a decent level. Many years later when I moved to Shanghai for my work I decided to pick it up again and join a local table tennis club.

It was painful and embarrassing to lose to primary school kids, grandpas in their long underwear and wife-beaters, with racquets that looked like they had been used as a placemats for their rice bowls. Won’t lie, pride was hurt. The average level is just incomparable to that in Europe.

Everybody in China plays table tennis. It’s the national sport. The government supports it, they decided it’s something they want to excel in. So there’s an enormous pool of potential talent. Players are scouted and guided from a very young age. They train with the best in the world.

The training is brutal. Millions of repetitions go into every stroke. Till the body has been conditioned to execute a shot blindfolded.

The competition is immense. The top players are superstars in China. But remember that every Chinese top player had to make tremendous sacrifices to get where they are. There’s no free lunch in Chinese table tennis.

Read More: What is the history of tennis’ strange scoring system?