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| Waldner plans retirement after 2005 worlds |
| | www.chinaview.cn 2004-08-23 20:14:00 |
ATHENS, Aug. 23
(Xinhuanet) -- The 39-year-old Jan-Ove Waldner may put his amazingly long career
to an end after the 2005 table tennis World Championships, a Swedish team coach
said Monday at the Olympic Games here.
"The question has been asked countless times before and he said he planned to call it quits after the World
Championships next year,"said Kjell Ake Waldner, older brother of
Jan-Ove.
The world championships will be held in Shanghai,
China next April.
"But it depends on the results at the
worlds before he makes the final decision," the Swedish team coach
added.
1992 Barcelona Olympics singles champion Waldner
finished his last match here in 24 minutes when he lost 4-1 to Chinese Wang
Liqin in the third/fourth place playoff.
Waldner will be
back home without a medal, which was his goal at the Games after he was also
shut outside the doubles' semi-finals by Michael Maze and Finn Tugwell of
Denmark on Thursday.
"It was not my day today. I was
a little bit tired but both of us were," he said. "It would be fun to have won
the bronze, but life goes on."
Waldner has been
playing in major international tournament since 1982 when he finished runner-up
at the European Championships as a 16-year-old.
He was
crowned with two world singles titles in 1989 and 1997 and won four team's world
championships in 1989, 1991, 1993 and 2000.
But after the
Athens Games, Waldner thought it was time to have a rest.
"I'm going to rest for a while, and I'll start training again in September. I
will be present at 2005 worlds," said Waldner.
"As for the Beijing's 2008 Olympic Games, it is going to be terrific for those who will take part in it," he said. Enditem |
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