Bouncing around the globe to Ping-Pong pinnacle

The coach was proven right: Zhang became instantly smitten with the sport and played frenetically for a year, before the end of which he was already consuming himself with his growing ambition.

"Before I turned 11, I had gone from a district team to a semiprofessional city team to the reputable Beijing Provincial Team, from where the best ones are expected to go to the Chinese National Team, a dream team made up almost entirely of world medalists who have dominated the sport since the 1960s," he said.

Little did he know about the name Cheng Yinghua, despite the fact that the 61-year-old was one of those who helped mint that glory, at the cost of his own ambition.

Today, Cheng is the co-founder of the Maryland Table Tennis Club, the first successful full-time table tennis club in the US.

"My story started in 1972, when I walked barefoot for miles on the mountainous road to take part in a selection by the Chongqing City Sports Team," he said.

From there, Cheng went on to the Sichuan Provincial Team, where a veteran coach lavished time and attention on him, convinced of the young man's gift.

By 1977, Cheng, who had shone at previous competitions, was already part of the national team. For the 19-year-old, a champion's dream had never been so near, so real, until two years later.

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