Imagine the scenario: you’re a table tennis player who has trained for four years, sweat and tears, dreaming of making your mark at the Olympic Games. Then, in the first round, you are drawn against a Chinese player.

Such is the dominance of the Chinese, it is perhaps surprising that rival players find the willpower to pick up the bat. The country has won 24 of the 28 Olympic gold medal contested since the sport entered the Games in 1988. They delivered a clean sweep at the London 2012 Games, winning all four golds up for grabs (individual and team in both genders).

But their rivals continue to persevere , and some are even beginning to see rays of hope. With the Rio 2016 table tennis test event currently underway at Riocentro Pavilion 4, we asked two players and a coach the million-dollar question in table tennis: how do you beat the Chinese?

Paul Drinkhall, British no.1 and Commonwealth Games champion

Drinkhall in action at the Rio 2016 test event, where he is the only non-South American  (Photo: Rio 2016/Alex Ferro)

If you can’t beat them, join them…
“I went to China when I was 11 and it improved me a lot. It was a real life experience and it really helped my table tennis in terms of getting quicker and better. I had a Chinese coach shortly after that and I worked with him until I was 22 or 23. So I’ve always had a big Chinese influence in my game and it has certainly helped me. Now it’s a case of trying to put small things together to try to beat the Chinese.”

Light at the end of the tunnel
“You see more and more these days some results happening and some European players, or non-Chinese players, winning against Chinese players. It’s not happened in the team events so much, but one match here, one match there, it’s starting to happen. So I think that hopefully, in the next few years, possibly next year in Rio, there are teams and individuals who can knock the Chinese off the top spots.”

Which Chinese player would most you like to beat?
“That would be Ma Long, because he is the one that nobody really beats. He always in the semi-finals and finals, and only really loses to other Chinese players.”

Odd man out Paul Drinkhall already at home in Rio for table tennis test event

Gui Lin, Brazil’s top-ranked woman,
played at London 2012, born in China

Gui Lin is well placed to comment on the differences between table tennis in Brazil and China (Photo: Getty Images/Warren Little)

From China with curiosity…
“When I was 11, one of the Brazilian coaches was in China and saw me training and he asked me if I wanted to come and get to know Brazil. I was a curious kid and thought ‘cool, I want to go’ so I accepted the invitation.”

How is Chinese table tennis different to Brazilian?
“In China, they train much more at youth level. So I arrived here with a high base level but lacked experience. In other countries, kids learn by playing, taking part in games, but in China it’s the opposite (they learn in training).”

How can other nations beat China?
“The first thing is they have to believe that they can beat the Chinese. The rest is work hard every day, learn by playing, learn by losing, become stronger.”

Clash of loyalties?
“I have still not played against a Chinese player in a tournament. It would be a honour to play against a player from China, the leading country in table tennis. It would show we have the ability to arrive at that level.”

Commuters take on Olympic table tennis players at Rio’s main railway station
 

Hugo Hoyama, Brazilian women’s team coach, six-time Olympian,
10-time Pan-American Games champion

Hugo Hoyama led Brazil's women to team silver at the 2015 Pan-American Games (Photo: Getty Images/Dennis Grombkowski)

Mission impossible?
“Look, beating China today is a really difficult mission. But you have to give credit to China, the other countries are chasing behind. In China, at five or six years old, the best players from each city stay together in training bases. This is the big difference.”

The good old days
“There was a time when the Swedish men’s team had very good phase (Jan-Ove Waldner won the men’s singles at Barcelona 1992 and remains the only non-Asian player to have won an Olympic gold). It was a time when there were not many top players from China. But nowadays it’s very difficult, the rest of us fight for silver.”

Fear factor
“We have a lot to learn from China. But it’s not only that the level of their players is higher, it’s that they have so many more top-level players. They train together and have a very high level of competition. If a player doesn’t take care, he can easily be swapped for another.”

Any hope for Rio?
“For me, China is guaranteed gold in Rio, but other strong nations will be Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and a few other Asian countries. There are a few European players who could cause problems, but only in the individual events.”