THEN & NOW
FRANCE, known mostly for its footballers as well as track and field athletes, has also produced several top table tennis players, with Jean-Philippe Gatien being one of the most revered names.
Gatien competed in four Olympics from 1988 to 2000, winning a silver in singles at the 1992 Barcelona Games and bronze in doubles with Patrick Chila at Sydney in 2000. He also won gold at the World Championships in 1993 and World Cup the following year.
The 48-year-old, who is the Sports Director of Paris 2024 Olympics bid com-mittee, was in Doha recently as a part of a delegation, led by French Secretary of State for Sports Thierry Braillard, to garner support.
Gatien, a 13-time ‘Champion de France’, spoke to Doha Stadium Plus about the sport as well his first trip to Qatar in 2003.
Why hasn’t France been able to produce another world champion?
In our times, we had a fantastic squad and four to five players used to be in the top 15 in the world. We all had thought another generation of excellent players would come up, but it never happened. After our period, we lost considerable time to educate the next batch. Since 2004, we don’t have impressive results. However, we’re improving. Youngster Simon Gauzy is currently No.19 in the world ranking. I’m hopeful France will be back in the reckoning by the next Olympics.
Can the Chinese domination be broken?
It looks difficult, but not impossi-ble. Several European players are better than what they were before. Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov competes well against the Chinese. It’s possible to beat them, but one needs to have strong self-belief and must think out of the box. When I was a junior, my coach had explained that if we wanted to overcome Chinese players, we should’ve never copied them. If we want to win, we must develop our own philosophy and style. I think, the Europeans need to be more creative.
Do you think naturalising Chinese players can help other nations?
There’re pros and cons. Having a Chinese in the team can help develop the sport in the country, but there’s also a drawback as one slot will always be blocked.
What’re your thoughts on the sport in the Middle East?
I don’t have much knowledge about the game in the region. I played at the Qatar Open in 2003. I believe organis-ing top events like Qatar or Kuwait Open is always important because elite play-ers are invited. But if you want to improve the level, you must’ve dedicated coaching clin-ics and a strong development policy.
How was your visit to Qatar in 2003?
It was a nice experience. I could dis-cover a new culture and interact with people from this region. Since then, the sports culture has improved a lot. Doha has become very big. I really appreciate Qatar’s efforts to organise high-profile international events.
