When the Japanese team took part in a match held in Beijing in 1964, they were invited to Zhou's home for dinner. This time, Zhou gave Matsuzaki some pink silk for her wedding present.

The friendship extended further.

In 1971, China came back to the World Table Tennis Championships after two absences in 1967 and 1969, due to the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).

In the Japanese city of Nagoya, photos of Chinese player Zhuang Zedong and his US counterpart Glenn Cowan chatting made the headlines.

The US team received an invitation to visit China after the game. The seminal visits of then US president Richard Nixon and his national security advisor Henry Kissinger followed. In 1972, China and the US normalized their diplomatic relations - and the whole world came to know the story about a small, white ball that changed the world.

That story does not end there. During his visit to Japan this spring, President Hu Jintao played table tennis with Beijing Olympics qualifier Ai Fukuhara and Chinese Olympic gold medalist Wang Nan, impressing Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and other spectators in an event at Waseda University.

Many speculated that Fukuda, 71, might also grip the racket, but the Japanese premier shied away from doing so. He later told reporters that he "backed out in the face of good players".

Fukuda also called Hu's way of playing the sport "very strategic", evoking a phrase the two leaders repeatedly used in the previous few days to describe what they hoped bilateral relations should be - "strategic and mutually beneficial".

Together with lovers of the sport, the two countries paddlers will next meet at the Beijing Olympics in August. Many also hope they will meet again at the 2016 summer Olympics that Tokyo aspires to host, where, in line with Tokyo's campaign to host the Games, sport will once again serve to build ties.

"As an Asian and an athlete who has visited China a number of times, I sincerely hope that the Olympics will be a great success," Kimura says.

"There is nothing that can give greater joy than to see everyone in China experiencing the splendor of the Olympics."

(China Daily August 7, 2008)