For most table tennis players in the World, winning the World singles championships is their greatest achievement.
For Guyanese TT players, just getting there is fait accompli, mission accomplished, an achievement of epic proportions especially in a country where getting sponsorship is akin to winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
So for national player Christopher Franklin, who arrived in France yesterday to participate in the Leibherr World table tennis championships, being there is a dream come true.
Outside of the Olympic Games, the World Table tennis championships is the biggest, most high profile tournament in the world where one gets an opportunity to be amongst table tennis royalty.
No wonder Franklin is excited.
“I’m very excited because this is the first time I’ll be attending such a championship with the best players in the world. It has always been a dream of mine and now to be on the verge of that experience is mind blowing,” he told Stabroek Sport in an exclusive interview on the eve of his departure on Saturday morning.
Franklin, arguably the top male player at the moment, swings into action this morning as the men’s singles competition gets underway.
Franklin though, he will be living his dream, is still mindful of the reality of the situation and the magnitude of the occasion.
He has no grandiose expectations of reaching far in tournament dominated by the Chinese whose Xu Xin, current World number one, and Ma Long, are the top two seeds in the men’s singles main draw.
Indeed, even making it into the main draw can be considered a major achievement says Franklin.
Expectations
Of his expectations at his first World singles ping pong championships the 28-year-old said…”I’m looking to make it past the qualifiers and take it from there one match at a time. Getting into the main draw is my first goal.
There are 113 qualification groups consisting of either three or four players with the group winners advancing to the next stage in their quest to make main draw of 128 players of which 64 will be seeded.
Franklin said the men’s singles tournament consisted of 404 entries and as such, there will be two or three rounds of qualifying matches before one can get into the main draw.
Former Caribbean men’s singles bronze medallist Idi Lewis has been named player/coach of the team.
Lewis, who also participated at the 2003 World Singles Championships held in France along with Orin `Vege’ Hickerson and Munroe, is, like Franklin, aware of the challenges facing Guyana’s racquet wielders.
“It’s very, very difficult to reach the main draw. It’s an uphill task,” he declared.
“People are coming from all over the World, some coming with rating points. Rating points not only affect your seeding, it affects the level of play. Some players have been preparing for almost an entire year,” he added.
Despite that, Lewis is of the opinion that the Guyanese players still have a chance of getting into the main draw.
“We have players capable of getting into the main draw, but it will be really, really tough,” he said.
Franklin, wahat benefits can be derived from theirn participation given the enormity of the task facing local players said….”The main benefit is the exposure. A lot of these players have seen table tennis live at this level only on video clips such as YouTube.
“Coming from this tournament everybody will have a world ranking which will help future Guyana teams participating at regional tournaments such as the Caribbean and the Latin American championships.”
Franklin said only two players David, who played at the singles event in Japan in 2007 and Chelsea Edghill possessed ITTF rankings.
Training adequate
Franklin, who will also compete in the men’s doubles event with David and the mixed doubles with Edghill, said that given the situation the training he did prior to the championships was adequate.
“Training started like two months ago. We played consistently five days a week in the mornings and on Saturdays in the afternoons.
“Given the time, I feel the training was adequate. All that I could have achieved in that short space of time, I felt I achieved which essentially was my condition and physical fitness.
“I only commenced tactical training like a week ago. My tactical training was done using the multi-ball method which was very beneficial to me also I found that a lot of service drills, using the multi-ball method was also very beneficial,” he added.
Franklin said that he hopes participating in the World championships will help his preparation for the Caribbean TT championships billed for St Lucia in September.
He explained that he has made an adjustment in his equipment.
Previously Franklin said he used the Calibra rubber on his backhand but found the rubber too soft and now uses Xiom Omega Four on his backhand and Xiom Sigma on his forehand in addition to his Stiga Optimum carbo blade.
Said Franklin of the equipment: It is the right combination for me. It gives me a lot of variation and the added flexibility to do what I want to do. Also I do get the required friction when spinning the ball as the rubber is kind of tacky.”
Franklin said that for future such engagements he would like to be able to train longer. He said that despite their dominance the Chinese team recently did a stint at the Werner Schlager Academy in Austria. Incidentally, Schlager is the last foreign/European player to win the World singles which he did some 10 years ago at the 2003 Worlds.
Franklin said Europe this year will depend on the likes of Germany’s Timo Boll, Schlager himself, Croatia’s Zoran Primorac and Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus, to topple the Chinese who, apart from Xu Xin and Ma Long will also have players like Zhang Jike, Ma Lin and Wang Hao competing in the singles.
Apart from the Guyanese the Caribbean is expected to be represented by Dexter St Louis, Jamaica’s Nigel Webb and Antigua’s John Duncan among others.
