China's national table tennis team for the upcoming Olympics next year have began intensive military training with their coach Liu Guoliang. The team entered the troop of Shenyang Military Region in the northeastern part of Liaoning province and trained for a week in preparation for the prestigious sport competition to be held at Rio de Janeiro.

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According to Reuters, this first team player's training began on Dec. 22 and will end on the Dec. 28. The rest of the team reportedly stayed and trained in Beijing.

"Military training is a way to reinforce the team's unity and temper their willpower," said Coach Guoliang, who was a former Olympic and world table tennis champion.

Unlike the previous years, the team members were reportedly assigned to artillery units. "We arranged for two players to live in a bedroom with four soldiers. They can help us supervise the players. I don't need confiscate their phones any more," Coach Guoliang said.

Despite being intense and rigid, some players found the training beneficial and useful. "I have learned a lot of military knowledge through this training. This is the first time I have the chance to operate an archie. As it needs a few people work together, I understand more about teamwork," world champion Zhang Jike, after jumping off an archie, reflected.

The practice of athletes undergoing military training started several years ago when freshmen in China were sent to a Peoples Liberation Army boot camp for a couple of weeks. The practice has since been adopted, and it has become a tradition. This most likely allowed them to bag all four gold medals during the 2012 London Olympics. 

"For the table tennis powerhouse China, competition is somehow like a war that must be won. So it always moulds its table tennis squad like an army, literally," Xinhua wrote. 

TagsRio de Janeiro, 2016 Olympics, table tennis