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Olympic and world champion table tennis star, Kong Linghui is confident of keeping up his winning form after being appointed assistant coach of China's women's table tennis team.

Monday's appointment was made after he announced his retirement last Thursday.

"As a player, you want to be the grand slam champion (World Championships, World Cup and Olympics). As a coach, you also want to bring up grand slam winners," Kong told reporter from Titan Sports. "But right now I am a freshman in a new career.

"All I will do is assist head coach of women's team to prepare for the Doha Asian Games and the 2008 Beijing Olympics."

Kong, who admits his speed and skill have dropped due to lack of game time, had been assisting Liu Guoliang, his former Olympic gold-medal winning double's partner and current men's head coach.

Liu's involvement was greeted with enthusiasm by officials, who want the nation's female paddlers to pack more power in their game.

"We lack coaches like Kong. He chose the coaching job right after retirement. He will have a better understanding of young players' training and characteristics," Liu Fengyan, director of the Table Tennis and Badminton Administrative Centre said. "If he picked up the coaching two years after retirement it would have been totally different."

Liu admitted Kong needs some time to get used to a new role.

"He needs time to know the women's players. So we will determine later which players he will coach," Liu said.

Kong's move to the women's team follows rumours that Kong and Liu would create a new Kong-Liu era after their illustrious career as players. But women's head coach Shi Zhihao dismissed such speculations, saying Kong's assistance was of great help.

"We shoulder a great task at 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Kong is of great help of the coaching team. He has won a dozen of world titles and also the grand slam winner, our players will benefit a lot from his skill and experiences. The coaching team is welcoming him. There is no menace at all," he said.

Ping pong icon

Kong's good looks and slim-build have help make him the most popular player of his generation. He's dubbed as the Chinese "Prince of Table Tennis" and many sports commentators believe he is personally responsible for creating the "idol era" for popular Chinese game.

"I spent most of my time in table tennis since I was born, I can't live without playing table tennis," said Kong, who began the glittering career at 6.

"It is an anguishing decision to quit. I had planned to play until after the 2008 Olympics, but it now seems unrealistic."

"I was lucky because when I emerged, China's men's table tennis was in a difficult time. I performed well at that turning point.

"In 1995, CCTV was broadcasting our matches (43rd World Championships). More people began to remember us. I received so many letters from fans after the tournament. It was unbelievable," Kong smiled.

In 1995, Kong helped China beat the then title favourites Sweden and won his first world championships.

Kong, who will turn 31 today, quit after losing his last competitive match in the Chinese national championships at Wuxi last week.

Kong broke into the Chinese national team in 1991 when he was only 16. He paired with Liu and won Olympic doubles gold the following year at Atlanta and was singles Olympic champion at the Sydney 2000 Games.

(China Daily October 18, 2006)