Getting the Ball Rolling.docVIP

Getting the Ball Rolling 　　With the 2016 Olympic Games kick- ing off in Rio de Janeiro in August， many athletes and their coaches are all in a fluster but not Zhang Chaoling. The chief coach of Egypt’s National Table Tennis Team remains unflappable， partly due to the fact that four of his players have already qualified for Rio， thanks to their outstanding performance at the All-Africa Games， the multi-sport event held every four years and regarded as Africa’s pre-qualifier for the Olympics. 　　Last year， at the 11th All-Africa Games in Brazzaville， the Egyptian women’s doubles team fought back to beat Nigeria and clinch the championship. Zhang’s joy turned euphoric when his players went on a winning spree， clinching the gold at the men’s and women’s singles as well. The winners automatically qualified for Rio. 　　“I feel delighted with the results， especially the women’s doubles team bagging the championship under very difficult conditions，” a beaming Zhang said. “I am hoping the four would do well in Rio too.” 　　An Olympic medal would be a feather in the cap of the Chinese coach who came to Egypt nearly a decade ago. Zhang， who is from Xi’an， a historical city in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province， was a child prodigy who began to play table tennis at the age of 7. He was selected to the provincial team at 13 and became coach of the Shaanxi provincial team when he was just 20. 　　In 2008， the 44-year-old’s table tennis career became laced with adventure. He was invited by a table tennis club in Cairo to coach Egyptian players and accepted the offer with alacrity to follow his “ping-pong dream.” 　　“Table tennis is my destiny，” Zhang said passionately. 　　 A different ball game 　　But when he arrived in Egypt， things were far from smooth. The first major hurdle was the language. Zhang could speak neither English nor Arabic and so couldn’t exchange a word with the people he lived and worked with since there was no interpreter. 　　He gritted his teeth and began