Rare Photos: Four Male Grand Slam Winners Finally Getting Together

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On December 18, four male TT grand slam winners J.O. Waldner, Liu Guoliang, Kong Linghui, and Zhang Jike finally had the opportunity to meet together for the first time in CNT's training hall and posed for pictures.

12 years ago, J.O. Waldner, Liu Guoling, and Kong Linghui had gotten together and took a rare photo. At that time, they were the only grand slam winners. People had been joking that they needed one more person to play Majong together.

After Zhang Jike became the fourth grand slam winner, Chinese TT fans have been waiting for an opportunity to get the four grand slam winners together, and the dream has finally come true now.

Huang Biao, the group leader of CNT, took off his jacket which had Chinese word “荣耀 Glory” printed on it and handed to Waldner, and Liu Guoliang explained the Chinese word's meaning to him. Waldner gladly put on the jackect for the photo shoot.

This is the first time J.O. Waldner had ever visited CNT's training hall. Liu Guoliang was amazed by Waldner's memory because he could still point out those champion players on the Wall of Fame who had competed against him and remember their playing styles and characteristics. Waldner said he liked Chinese team's environment where all players train together.

Liu Guoliang asked about Waldner's short training experience in China when he was a young boy and what role it played in his career. Waldner said it played a significant role because the experience elevated his understanding of table tennis to a new realm.

Liu Guoliang then asked Waldner how Chinese team could help European players, and Waldner replied that he thinks sending good coaches is the most important step because European countries now lack good coaches. Waldner said that none of great European players of his generation such as himself, Persson, Gatien, Saive had became coaches while a lot of their Chinese, Korean, and Japanese counterparts had become coaches.

Liu Guoliang told Waldner that many Chinese table tennis fans hopes that Timo Boll could become second Waldner, to which Waldner answered that the difference between Boll and himself was that he loved table tennis so much that he could not stop thinking about it all the time and could not stop thinking about winning all the time.

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Now

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12 years ago
 
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Wow, Zhang Jike looks pretty tall compared to the other legends. Yes, Boll did write in his book that he switches off from table tennis directly after training while some keep discussing it and doesn't watch many videos or analyses. His point is slightly valid as TT is after all played at the table and sometimes, the clearer your mind, the better but it clearly helped Waldner develop his perfect tactics. Waldner's tactics were almost always perfect, his losses mostly were due to lack of form/condition.
 
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