June 10, 2010
The 3 Star 2010 Golden State Open
 Chuan Chih-Yuan |
At the table the Butterfly player Chuan Chih-Yuan can be a volcano. |
Chih-Yuan, you have just finished your 10th season in Europe, of which you played in Germany and Spain. You had great successes with TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen for which you played altogether 7 years. You are now leaving your home club. Where to?
To Paris. The most successful club in France, UTT Levallois has made me an offer which I couldn’t turn down. But the farewell from Ochsenhausen after altogether 7 years hurts, no doubt about it.
Why France?
The French league has become very strong and for players, who play a lot of international tournaments, the fixtures are better than in the German Bundesliga. All league games take place on Tuesdays during the week. That is easier to combine with all the other commitments. This does not apply to the Champions League.
So much to your current affairs, let’s talk about the beginning. When did you start to play table tennis?
I started when I was eight years old at school. Many children played table tennis there. My parents too were players and my mother coached the players. She was teaching my brother, who is two years older and when she saw that I too was handling the bat quite well, she took me also.
Did you then go to a table tennis club?
No, there are no clubs in Taiwan like in Europe. The schools take over the work of the clubs. The children and youngsters practice in school, are members of the school teams and they take part in team and single competitions from local and regional level up to national level. For the older players there are university or company teams but without professional pay as in Japan, South Korea and also China. That is why I went to a foreign country when I was 19 years old, to earn some money. The table tennis structures of Taiwan are most similar to the ones in Japan.
When did you have your greatest success as a junior and you were thinking of becoming a professional?
When I was 13 years old I won the national U14 competition. I didn’t think of becoming a professional but I liked the idea of my mother to send me to a table tennis school in China. She promised me, if I don’t like it that I could stop at any time. So I went to Hebei in China when I was 13 years old. The table tennis schools are very sport orientated and I didn’t have any problems there. The following years I changed schools in China very often to get permanently new impulses and I stayed there until I was 18 years old. A short time later I went to Germany.
But then you played internationally?
Since 1997 I have played for the national team of Taiwan for example at the Asian Championships in 1998 where I played very well in the team event. A year later I played my first WC in Eindhoven where I could again attract attention.
Would you have become just as good without Chinese education?
That is difficult to say. In Taiwan the table tennis training in the schools is perfectly okay. But then it is finished. Especially the years from 18-21 are very important if you want to become a professional. Therefore I had to leave Taiwan so that I would not stagnate.
You went to Germany to the top club TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen. How did you adjust to the European especially southern German way of life? People live very differently in Asia. That was okay. I was made very welcome in Ochsenhausen especially by the president Rainer. They supported me as much as they could. I had to get used to the food though.
Let’s talk about the Asian and European table tennis philosophy. How do the Asians think about table tennis and how do they work for it?
Europeans have more fun in table tennis and enjoy practicing. This joy comes from the inside. Asians have also fun but they are much more lead and directed by the coaches. They work more table tennis instead of playing it. They work much harder than the Europeans because of this attitude towards work. That is why they are so strong, which applies especially to the Chinese. It is not unusual that you practice for seven hours a day. That doesn’t exist in Europe.
You are now 29 years old and at the moment number 18 in the world. In the year 2001 you were once on third place. What are your sporting targets in the future?
My target is to win a medal in the up-coming Asian Games, the single World Championships and the Olympic Games. I think that is possible.
You are playing a very aggressive shakehand offensive game. What do you have to improve?
I am very satisfied with my system against players of the world ranking list from 20-50. Against top players I am sometimes too aggressive and feel insecure. At this point I have to keep developing my game so that I become more consistent without losing aggressiveness. Not easy, but manageable. In any case, I am working on it.
What is so special about table tennis? Why do you love the game?
That is a difficult question, really. I would like to put it like that; table tennis was my only activity which I pursued since I was 8 years old. Everything else I tried didn’t last for long. Only table tennis lasted and it became a habit. Naturally I like to win and want to deliver spectacular games for the spectators. But to be honest, when I was 20 years old I thought I would stop when I was 27 to become perhaps a coach. That has changed. During the last years I enjoyed table tennis a lot more and that is why I can’t say at the moment when I will stop.
Is there something you would like to change in table tennis?
Change, no. We had enough rule changes during the previous years. What we need is better marketing, spectators, sponsors, TV coverage and media presence. That is very poor in some countries, many countries. The ITTF is challenged to promote table tennis even more.
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