After easily beating a woman 21 years her junior, Ni Xialian bobs a quick bow to her supporters, kisses her husband and coach Tommy Danielsson and heads for the changing room.
Just another day at the office for the 51 year old Chinese-born Luxembourger who is becoming an unlikely star of the inaugural European Games in Baku.
Ni has yet to drop a game in the women’s singles table tennis as she chases a medal and a place at next year’s Olympics.
Danielsson said she is like a “grandmother” to the other players on tour and Ni laughed. “I want the children to improve but in a healthy way,” she said. “If anybody is coming to me to ask anything life or money or children or table tennis, everything I’m willing to help.”
Ni plays the old-fashioned way, favouring precise shot placement over athletic exertion, and rejecting more modern innovations. She doesn’t believe in trying to hide her serve motion from the opponent “it’s not for me” and is scathing about younger players’ tendency to stamp their feet while serving. “I’m a mother, I consider their health. It’s not good for the knee,” she said. “If you become top, super in the world and then your knee gets broken, your mommy is not happy.”
While world No. 61 Ni’s experience is exceptional for the European Games, her background is not. More than a third of the 32 players in the second round of the women’s event were born in Asia but now represent countries ranging from Portugal to Croatia, Poland to Turkey. Almost all of them originally hail from China, which has won 19 of the 20 gold medals available at the Olympics since Atlanta 1996, and has been the unquestioned superpower of world table tennis.
With intense competition for the Chinese national team, talented players often travel to Europe to play for clubs there. Many stay and represent their adopted countries. Portuguese player Yu Fu, who was born in China, admits the influx can cause tension.
The first table tennis final of the European Games featured four China-born players among the six from the German and Dutch teams battling for the women’s team gold medal. Unsurprisingly, the match generated interest in China, prompting Li Jiao of the defeated Netherlands team to lament that Europe did not pay the same level of attention.
“It was live in China. Of course I think (the Dutch TV stations) should have aired the final. It’s their own players who feature in a final,” Li said.
Moving to Europe allows Chinese-born players to continue playing internationally for far longer than might otherwise be possible. The 51-year-old Ni is at the extreme end of the scale, but players over the age of 35 are not uncommon at the European Games.
Portugal’s Yu believes Chinese players’ top-level training and wealth of experience are making a difference in Europe.
“It’s the other face of the coin because it’s good to improve the European players’ level,” she said. “With the coaching, young players in Europe can practice more or less like they do in China.”
After the European Games, Ni will go back to Luxembourg and the other two passions in her life, the hotel she runs with her husband and the classes she runs for local youngsters. “They give me a challenge, I give them a challenge,” she said.
