Now Zhang Jike wants to learn English!

We all know that the all time great Table Tennis player Zhang Yining enrolled for English lessons in the United states last year. Now it's Zhang Jike's turn to learn the language. Is he inspired by Zhang Yining? Unlikely but possible. After all, he is one of the very few to have won the Grand Slam of Table Tennis, Zhang Yining is one of them. Liu Guoliang, Kong Linghui, Wang Nan are others who've done it.

Wang Hao latest update

Wang Hao is still playing as much as he can in the Chinese premier TT league even after losing out on a gold medal on his third attempt. Zhang Jike praised big brother Hao right after he won the Gold. Liu Guoliang too showered praise. 

If anything, Wang Hao's won more fans even after losing. Evidence - the Chinese media going ga-ga over a hit of a streak of golden hair!

Training to the summit: Ma Lin and Wang Hao climb 100 floors

Climb photo courtesy tabletennista.com and nddaily.com

Many people feel that the Chinese Table Tennis players are dominant and do not understand the hardships they go through. Most of the present day stars including Ma Lin, Wang Liqin, Wang Hao, Zhang Jike, Ma Long and others are already millionaires, but they do not hesitate to put in more and more hard work to reach their goals.

A recent example is the winter training that Liu Guoliang put them through. At Shenzen, Guoliang made Wang Hao and Ma Lin climb one of the tallest buildings - the 100 floor 442 metre high Kingkey tower.

Both the players could not complete the climb in their first attempt, but fiesty as they are, they did it on subsequent attempts and even wore a relaxed smile as they took in the beautiful landscape of Shenzen from the very top.

China to train foreign Table Tennis players

Liu Guoliang and Shi Zhihao will head the coaching team that will train foreign players at the Shanghai Table Tennis Academy. China has been criticized for dominating Table Tennis at the World level.

The training will include Table Tennis theory and practice based on the Chinese methods.

Players who train at the academy will have to work hard. It may entail spending 7 hours of hard sweat and toil for around 6 days a week. The sessions are expected to start from next September and the academy has the strong backing of the Shanghai government.