table tennis players

With less than 18 months until the Games start, a crop of emerging youngsters are cranking up the pressure on the veteran duo.

The new generation, led by 18-year-old Ma Long and Guo Yue, 19, have dominated competition so far in 2007, in the process proving their status as legitimate medal contenders.

"This is no surprise," said national team head coach Liu Guoliang. "The rising young players keep on putting a lot of pressure on the world title holders. That's a reason why China is a success in the world of table tennis."

Ma outclassed Wang Liqin and world No 2 Wang Hao to win his first ever International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) trophy at the Kuwait Open in January. Meanwhile his women's teammate Guo has pocketed three out of four titles in 2007 in Slovenia, Croatia and Kuwait respectively, beating Athens Olympic gold medalist Zhang Yining twice this year.

Despite winning six ITTF titles in 2006, 28-year-old Wang Liqin has struggled to deal with the challenge from younger teammates and has failed to win an ITTF title so far this year.

table tennis players
table tennis players
table tennis players
table tennis players
table tennis players
table tennis players
table tennis players
table tennis players