Review | Ping Pong: The Triumph movie review – Deng Chao recalls China’s overcoming of table tennis struggles in rousing 1990s-set sports drama
- The story of China’s brief setback in world table tennis follows coach Dai Minjia (played by its director Deng Chao) as he tries to reverse their fortunes
- His team of retired, injured and overseas players goes through some classic training montages and hears rousing speeches, and get their pride back
3/5 stars
It may be hard to believe that China’s total dominance in the sport of table tennis was ever seriously under threat, so consistent has its performance been over the past few decades.
During the late 1980s and early ’90s, however, China’s reign as world champion was disrupted by Sweden, which had developed a new style of play that left Chinese players scrambling to regain their stronghold on the sport.
Ping Pong: The Triumph, directed by and starring Deng Chao, dramatises this reversal of fortunes, following former player turned head coach Dai Minjia as he vows to return the national team to their winning ways.
After a difficult spell working in Italy, Dai (Deng) returns to China in 1991 with his wife (Sun Li) in reluctant tow, and is quickly voted in as head coach of the national team.
Vowing to reclaim the Swaythling Cup awarded to the men’s world champions within two years, he inherits a squad in total disarray and an infrastructure unable to keep up with new developments in sports technology.