> nyx.net> wrote in message
>
> news:62a0d444-4380-4134-b7f0-b4d54d34bc64@b38g2000prf.googlegroups.com...>Other nations occasionally have a good player who can complete with the

>>best of the PRC, but when did the PRC last *not* win gold in TT? 1988,
>>maybe?

>
>     Since the PRC did not come into existence before 1949, and World
> Championships in Table Tennis started in 1927, I would say there were quite
> a few

>

>>I remember attending the US Open in Princeton NJ in 1981, the first time
>>that the PRC played in that tournament. They were unbelieveable.

>
>     I had the good fortune of seeing the Japanese team and the Chinese team
> way back in the late 60's. They looked as if they were playing a totally
> different game against the Western players. Two names come immediately to my
> memory - Zhuang Tse Tung and Kimura - the former was the Chinese and World
> champion and the latter, the Japanese champion. Zhuang was so fast and had
> such a devastating back-hand with his pen-hold grip he made the others look
> like players from the geriatric ward, and as for Kimura - he had such a
> powerful smash, that everyone was surprised the ball didn't break. Those
> were the days before the top-spin loop came into existence.