RIO DE JANEIRO — When 19-year-old American Yijun Feng played Spaniard Zhiwen “Juanito” He on Saturday, Feng entered the table tennis match with a slight but unusual advantage, despite being outranked and lacking comparable experience.
Decades ago, He and Feng’s 58-year-old coach, Massimo Constantini, were rivals.
“I used to get killed right away,” Constantini said of his matches against the 54-year-old He, one of the oldest athletes in Rio de Janiero.
All these years later, He still had it, handily beating Feng four games to two in the opening round of the Olympics.
Experience matters in table tennis.
Youthful strength, daring and stamina rule in many Olympic sports, but table tennis often rewards the deep experience that can only be won with hundreds of hours of practice and match-play. Older players thrive with a close, even devious attention to strategy, a determination to study and then exploit an opponent’s weaknesses and a gritty refusal to panic under extreme pressure.