Rocky road

Despite dominating international table tennis, China has struggled to organize the talent into a viable league system.

The sport was played on a provincial level until 1998 when the Super League was established. The league has been plagued with problems, notably scheduling clashes with international competitions, team venue switches, absence of top players and falling sponsorship revenues.

The infamous 2003-04 season was originally meant to be 22 rounds, but it stretched on for an agonizing 14 months with just 10 rounds played as Olympic preparations wreaked havoc with the schedule and frustrated sponsors withdrew.

Despite the ups and downs, optimism remains.

Cai Zhenhua, assistant to the director of China's General Sports Administration and former table tennis chief, said ahead of last season that the league could one day become China's answer to the United States' National Basketball Association (NBA).

"We are aiming to develop our table tennis league into one of the best sports leagues in the world, just like the NBA," he told China Daily. "We have the widest fan base here in China and we have the best players, so that is my expectation in the long run. I feel we are moving closer to it."

Others believe China could learn a lot from Germany, home to the most successful professional table tennis league.

A total of 15,000 teams compete at various levels under the German Table Tennis Association, which also governs three popular professional tournaments- the League Cup, League A and League B.

Top players there are able to earn over two million yuan a season, compared to the maximum one million yuan payment in China.

Chinese paddlers swept the medals at the Olympic Games in Atlanta and Sydney, and are favorites to dominate again at the 2008 Beijing Games after winning the first four International Table Tennis Federation tournaments in 2007.