BEIJING, Aug 20: China’s formidable table tennis champions are beatable, even on home turf, Swedish veteran Jorgen Persson declared on Wednesday, as the Olympic singles tournament kicked into gear.

Persson, honoured this week as one of the few paddlers to play at all six Olympics since the sport was introduced in Seoul, said history showed the host nation could be taken down in table tennis, considered China’s national game.

“The fact that they dominate in table tennis is no surprise, they have been prepared for this [Beijing] for a very long time, and they have always succeeded in being in top shape,” Persson, 42, said.

China, whose paddlers dominate the top world rankings, won the men’s and women’s team events here and are gunning for a clean sweep in the singles.

“If you look at the history of the Olympics, we have played five times and China has only one two [golds] in the men’s singles, and South Korea two, and Sweden one,” he said after winning his second round match here.

“So there is a better chance because there are only three [Chinese] players [to encounter in singles], and yes they are beatable,” he said. “Singles is the chance.”

Sweden battled China for dominance over a decade from the 1980s to the 1990s, with legend Jan-Ove Waldner, now retired, along with Persson often the main European rivals to China’s stream of world champions.

Persson and the rest of Europe’s best, including Germany’s fifth seed Timo Boll and sixth seed Vladimir Samsonov from Belarus joined forces at a special training camp before the Olympics to try to combat China’s might in Beijing.

“It has paid off with Germany into the final and Austria in the semi-finals,” he said of the men’s team event.

Germany took silver, beaten by China led by world No 1 Wang Hao, in the final, while Austria lost to South Korea in the bronze medal team play-off.

“It’s a good opportunity for the Europeans to practise together and keep pace with the Chinese. It was really good preparation and I hope we can show it in singles also.”

China’s men and other seeds take to the tables on Thursday after enjoying byes, while the top women’s paddlers battled for the round of 16 on Wednesday.—AFP