Liu Guoliang, head coach of the Chinese men's table tennis team, said his
players were confident in their possible clashes with South Koreans but not 100
percent sure to beat their rivals.
"South Koreans are the toughest opponents and they pay more
attention to the Asiad than the world championships," said Liu. "Their target is
gold."
"Our team are not afraid of facing them, though the top paddler of our team,
Wang Liqin, has been excluded from the Asiad squad," added Liu, who led China to
a clean sweep of titles at the latest world championships.
Wang was dropped to give way to young players, Chinese table tennis chief Liu
Fengyan said earlier.
South Korea has named its top players including Olympic champion Ryu Seung
Min and veteran Oh Sang Eun to the team, while China fielded a youngster-packed
team with only one oldie Ma Lin.
"What worries me most is that the young players have less international
experience and they are prone to impatience at clutch moments," said Liu. "So
that, I'm not 100 percent sure that we will beat South Korea if we meet here."
China lost to South Korea in both the men's team and singles finals at the
1986 Asiad, as well as in the singles title contest in Bangkok in 1998.
