At the National Table Tennis Base in Hebei Province, athletes have been honing their skills for almost five hours every day. Every evening, the athletes' plays and maneuvers are being analyzed.

The rules for table tennis have changed in recent years. Balls have become larger, and the 21-point match has now been whittled down to 11.

For the 2008 Summer Games, the International Table Tennis Federation has come up with a new team competition category. The pairs event has been replaced with a team competition.

The new format consists of four singles and one doubles match, and every team can have three players competing. Chinese players say the recent changes won't affect their confidence.