For table tennis powerhouse China, competition is somehow like a war that must be won. So it always moulds its table tennis squad like an army, literally.
Just as Chia's sports authorities held a meeting on Thursday to mobilize elite athletes for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, its world-beating table tennis team announced to kick off their build-up to the Rio Games with a week-long training at a Peoples Liberation Army boot camp in Liaoning.
In China, freshmen will be sent to a Peoples Liberation Army boot camp for a couple of weeks where they receive a dose of military-style discipline, when they enroll in the university. The Chinese table tennis team adopted the practice many years ago and have turned it into a tradition.
"Military training is a way to reinforce the team's unity and temper their willpower," said head coach Liu Guoliang, former Olympic and world table tennis champion.
This year's drill for the first team players will take place from Dec. 22 to 28 in northeast Liaoning province, while the rest of the team stay in Beijing for training.
