Table tennis legend Liu Guoliang named CTTA vice-president

Coach of China's national table tennis team Liu Guoliang (Left) reacts as he watches Xu Xin of China competing against Jun Mizutani of Japan during the men's team table tennis gold medal match at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug 17, 2016. [Photo/IC]

BEIJING - Grand Slam champion-turned coach Liu Guoliang was named as a vice-president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA) on Tuesday.

The CTTA also announced that Liu will no longer be the "chief coach" of the Chinese table tennis team.

According to a reform plan unveiled on Tuesday, the CTTA abolished the positions of "chief coach" and "head coaches" in the Chinese team, and will instead set up two coaching teams for men's and women's players.

"These reforms will better prepare the Chinese team for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo," a CTTA spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Liu, named head coach of the Chinese men's team in 2003, was promoted to chief coach in 2013 while also taking the helm of the men's team. He handed the men's team to Qin Zhijian in April 2017 while remaining as chief coach till today.

Kong Linghui, also a Grand Slam winner of Olympic, world championships and World Cup men's singles titles, was suspended in late May as head coach of the women's team following a lawsuit over a gambling debt filed by a Singaporean hotel.

The Singaporean hotel where Kong and his friends had stayed in 2015 filed a lawsuit against Kong. Media reports said Kong borrowed S$1 million ($721,200) from the hotel, but failed to pay back the debt in full.

Lei Jun, director of the Chinese Table Tennis and Badminton Administrative Center, replaced former director Liu Xiaonong as CTTA vice president and general secretary.