Liu Guoliang, president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, talked about the association's two goals in an interview with People's Daily on Friday. According to Liu, one is to win all five gold medals at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the other is to improve the influence of the China Table Tennis Super League.

When the Association released the coaching staff list for China's national table tennis team in February, it also launched the campaign of competing for a gold sweep in the Japanese capital next year.

Liu did not spare himself in his strict assessment criteria.

"I believe there's both pressure and incentive," he said. "Coaches have to test the performance of themselves and so does the president. Of course, there is pressure because we are doing actual work. I dare make my criteria public because that's my pledge to the Chinese people."  

Liu also said that he's willing to make the pledge because he believes in the team. "First, I hope they (the national team) can win and I believe they will win. Second, if anything goes wrong, we will take responsibility. I selected a lot of members of the coaching staff and thus I must take responsibility. It's both determination and confidence that I want to show them (the national team)."

Liu believes that as the No.1 country in the sport of table tennis, China must have the No.1 table tennis league in the world. "If all of our players go to play in Japan's table tennis league, that's a loss of talents. Our professional table tennis league must have a better market, better players, better games, better audience and better market development. A professional league always comes with market and bonus."

Liu pointed out that a top table tennis league will also bring honor to the country. "We (China) have no say in soccer or basketball but we have absolute say in table tennis to make rules of the sport, invite the rest of the world to join us and make China the center of the sport. I believe this can win honor for our country and improve our sport's image."

Since Team China achieved a good performance in table tennis at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, many players including Zhang Jike and Ma Long have become Internet celebrities. 

When asked about this, Liu said, "I believe that no matter you are a player, a coach or other staff, what matters most is your own influence and appeal. For example, two players are both champions but they are liked in different ways and have different values in business. One can succeed because he/she must have something unique and magnetic. That means our players and coaches are showing some of their virtues in and outside the game."