(File photo)   BEIJING, Oct. 13 - Table tennis world champion Kong Linghui today formally announced his retirement and his intent to compete for a China Table Tennis Team coach position, reports sina.com Thursday.

 

Kong began his athletic career at age six, and in 1986 he made the Heilongjiang Provincial team, and then went on to make the national team 1991.

 

The 31-year old Kong is one of only three people to win gold at all three of the world's most important table tennis matches, the World Table Tennis Championships, the Table Tennis World Cup and the Olympic Games.The other two are Kong's former teammate Liu Guoliang, now the head coach of the China men's table tennis team and Swedish veteran Waldner Jan-Ove.

 

At the beginning of the year,Kong has been assigned parts of coach's work in order to lighten the working stress of the men's team.Until this point,Kong has mainly focused on training and matches, even though he should have been doing some coaching.