China's champions have no time to rest on laurels

Liu Guoliang became an icon as a player and coach. Now, as chief of China's table tennis governing body, he's aiming to steer the national team to a new level of supremacy.

Liu, who was appointed chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association last December, proved his worth by helming the national team to a perfect record at the world championships in Budapest last week, sweeping all five gold medals.

The result should provide long-awaited motivation for a squad that had struggled for several months in the face of challenges from rising regional rivals, particularly Japan, ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.