China Wins Table Tennis World Title, Looks to Sweep Its National Sport at Olympics

China won the men's and women's team table tennis world titles at the championships in Guangzhou over the weekend. In case there are any Americans who don't realize how intense the sport we know as ping pong is on the international level, here's a highlight from this weekend's action:

Table tennis is China's national sport, and the Chinese are already looking toward the Beijing Olympics, where they hope to sweep the medals after the disappointment of 2004, when South Korea's Ryu Seung-Min beat China's Wang Hao for the gold medal in the men's singles.

China won six of the 12 total table tennis medals at the 2004 Games (and three of the four golds), but table tennis is taken so seriously in China that the 2004 Games were considered a disappointment. In both 2000 and 1996 China won all four golds and eight total medals. The Chinese expect to get back to that level of success on their home turf in 2008.