Olympic table tennis doubles champion Chen Qi has been seemingly forgiven for his outburst at the Asia Cup this month by being included in the World Team Championships line-up.

Chen lost his cool at the event in Japan on March 5 as he hit the ball to the floor and kicked a chair into the air after losing to teammate Wang Hao in the men's final.

But Chen, No 6 in the world, has been listed along with Ma Lin, Wang Liqin, Wang Hao and Ma Long for the World Championships in Berlin, Germany, from April 24-29, brushing aside worries that his humiliating behaviour in Japan would hamper his rising career on the way to the Beijing Olympics.

"His problem in Japan will not affect his future chances in the national team," said Cai Zhenhua, the former team head coach and now director of Table Tennis and Badminton Administrative Centre, during a press conference in Beijing yesterday. "Chen is a great player. We want to help him and not to kick him to rock bottom.

Chen, 21, from Jiangsu, made a televised apology to the nation last Thursday for his behaviour. He also has to return 10 per cent of his earnings this year to the authorities.

His behaviour, called "a terrible mistake" by China's media, has put the spotlight on the mental strength of young sports stars.

"His affair has exposed the weakness in the national team's mental education," said Cai. "We have taken some steps to make the young players more aware of their national duties and try to make the affair a good thing on the preparation of Beijing Olympics."

Earlier this month, another promising star, Qiu Yike, was given a one-year ban from the national team after he failed to return to the team's dormitory after staying out for drinking for the night.

The process of selecting the line-up for the World Team Championships began this year.

Internal qualification tournaments, which were open to the public and televised live for the first time, took place from January.

Wang Hao, Wang Liqin and Ma Lin were selected from the qualifiers, while Ma Long and Chen were appointed by coaches. Guo Yue, Zhang Yining, Wang Nan, Guo Yan and Li Xiaoxia make up the women's team.

The national teams are now having closed-door training sessions in Xiamen and Zhengding respectively and will leave for Berlin one week before the World Team Championships.

As a leading force in the world, China has swept titles in two Olympic Games (Atlanta and Sydney) and three World Championships (Yugoslavia, Tianjin and Shanghai).

(China Daily March 17, 2006)