According to Chen (foreground), he wants the players to 'improve on their past performances', and will use his coaching experience in France to help improve their rankings. --ST PHOTO: LIM WUI LIANG
MISSION: To get Singapore's top men table tennis players to join the ranks of the world's elite.
The man tasked to do it is the new head coach of the men's national team, Alain Chen, who replaces Liu Guodong who has left.
The 47-year-old French national oversaw his first training session this morning, putting paddlers Gao Ning and Yang Zi through their paces at the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) headquarters in Toa Payoh.
According to Chen, he wants the players to 'improve on their past performances', and will use his coaching experience in France to help improve their rankings.
At the Beijing Olympics in August, the Singapore men's team were eliminated in the group stage. In the singles event, neither Gao nor Yang progressed beyond the fourth round.
Chen's acquisition fills part of the coaching void within the STTA, which has been on the hunt for a new men's head coach since the Olympics.
The association is still in the process of finalising its choice to lead the women's team, which won a historic silver medal in Beijing.
