England's Paul Drinkhall to train in Italy as part of the 2012 Olympics preparation
England's men's singles Champion, Paul Drinkhall is planning to move to Italy in order to enhance his table tennis playing skills ahead of the 2012 London Olympics.
The 21-year old English player will be attending training sessions at the Italian club Sterilgarda, hoping to train with top professionals. Drinkhall told the press, "I haven't got that level of consistency to reach the top. So that's what I'll be
working on out in Italy. I'll be getting better training out there on a daily basis."
Drinkhall is the English number one since 2006. He has also been nominated for the British Broadcasting Coporation (BBC) athlete of the year award twice, only to land as a runner-up both times.
The player will be competing in the upcoming GAC Group World Championship, starting from May 8. The 8-day long competition will end on May 15 and Paul will be leading the English squad at the Championship. Talking to reporters, he insisted that his
long-term goal was to win a medal at the Olympics and GAC Championship would act as a perfect stepping stone for him in achieving his eventual target.
The highest career ranking Drinkhall ever achieved was Number 81 on the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rankings, back in 2010. He slipped down to 126, primarily because of his lowly performances which is a clear indication that he needs
to improve his game. That might be the reason for his decision to train in Italy since he needs to improve his ranking to qualify for the 2012 Olympics.
The Brit has been a touch unlucky with the kind of qualifying draws he has been getting, and the fact that he does not have a single senior medal doesn't seem to be helping his cause too much.
Drinkhall went on to add, "To say I'm going to go there and win a medal is quite hard for me to say because I've never done anything in the past. I've never won a Pro Tour at a senior level,"
England have not won a single Olympic medal in table tennis since 1951 when Johnny Leach won the men's singles gold medal and Drinkhall, who went China on a self-funded trip to train with Chinese professionals, believes it won’t be an easy task to
win one soon.
According to the 21-year-old Drinkhall , the Chinese have an amazing work ethic which has resulted in them completely dominating the world of table tennis. Not surprisingly, in the current ITTF World Top Ten Players, six are Chinese.
Nevertheless, since the British squad have a Chinese coach in Liu Jia-Yi and they have been training in China as a team as well, Drinkhall believes these factors might just do the trick for England in the 2012 Olympics.
Although the odds are against the British side in the Chinese-dominated arena, Drinkhall along with the rest of his squad will be hoping to turn the tables and bring some glory back to England after almost half a century.
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