TOKYO - Yoshihito Miyazaki, head of development at the Japan Table Tennis Association (JTTA), showed his admiration in a recent interview towards Liu Guoliang's endeavor to develop players under the age of 12 since the latter took charge of the Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA).

Liu, who achieved the rare feat of becoming a career Grand Slam champion before turning to coaching, was elected as the CTTA president in December, 2018.

The Chinese table tennis giant visited Japan in 2019, and the two associations of the sport conducted in-depth cooperation in terms of youth development.

"Chinese table tennis rarely paid attention to development of under-12 players. But Liu noted the importance of that after he took office, and he advised me to promote it together. Then we launched it in the Chinese city of Wenzhou.

"It derived from Liu's determination. It's so great," Miyazaki commented.

Japan's junior national team was launched in 2001 to develop paddlers under 12, and has witnessed Tomokazu Harimoto and Mima Ito become global teenage sensation in the sport.

Miyazaki admitted that he felt threatened by Liu's foresighted project.

"China has the best table tennis players in the world. To catch up with them, we initiated a youth development project in 2001 and have seen the gap bridged to some extent. Now Liu has also focused on youth development, do we expect the gap will become larger again? We do feel the challenge," he noted.

Japanese paddlers have returned to the National Training Center after the country recently lifted the COVID-19 state of emergency.

For Miyazaki, the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games will be beneficial to the growing of the Japanese table tennis team.

"For Harimoto, Ito and Miu Hirano, who are less than 20 years old, they have one more year to improve their mentality and technique. So I think the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics will be positive to them," Miyazaki said.

"Come to Japan, and play excellent matches at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021! China, please leave one gold medal for us. We cannot ask for more," he smiled.