Former coach keeps fans informed as online TV commentator at worlds

The divisions among China's table tennis ranks appear to be on the mend.

Retired coach Liu Guoliang made a welcome return to the international scene - albeit as a TV commentator - and the nation's top paddlers put recent hiccups behind them to clean up at the ITTF World Team Championships, which wrapped up in Sweden on Sunday.

Liu, revered by his players, was dismissed as head coach of the Chinese team last June, prompting top men's trio Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin to skip matches at the China Open in an apparent protest.

Liu's guest commentating for an online platform created something of a stir among fans, with his analysis of the men's and women's teams' double triumph in Halmstad going viral.

"Sometimes, even if we can afford to lose, our opponents have no expectations of winning against us," Liu said after the women's team's 3-1 semifinal triumph over Hong Kong on Friday.

Despite veteran Liu Shiwen's 3-2 loss to teenager Mima Ito, China's women recovered to win their next three singles matches against Japan in Saturday's best-of-five final and claim a fourth straight title.

In the men's final on Sunday, three-time Olympic gold medalist Ma got China off to a flier with a 11-4, 11-8, 11-3 win over Germany's two-time Olympic bronze medalist Timo Boll before world No 1 Fan and the stylish Xu thrashed Ruwen Filus and Patrick Franziska respectively to clinch a ninth straight title.

The emphatic victories at the biennial tournament served to reassure fans following a series of unexpected setbacks at international events since the Chinese Table Tennis Association decided to dispense with Liu's services.

Ma's loss to Boll in the semifinals of October's World Cup in Belgium and Zhang Jike's opening-round loss to Portugal's world No 40 Tiago Apolonia at the German Open in November were seen as signs that all was not well in the post-Liu era.

However, harmony appears to have been restored after Ma reserved special praise for China's new coaching setup following the victories in Sweden.

"We all played very well today, and this win is a credit to all our hard work and our entire team, including all our coaches and staff," Ma said after lifting the Swaythling Cup for a seventh time.

"We are very happy inside our hearts to again be world champions, especially beating such a tough German team led by Timo Boll. I am now focusing on the qualification path to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics where I want to defend my singles title."