"I chose to retire because I wasn't feeling at my best, and I was confident that the young players coming through were good enough to maintain the status of the Chinese team," he said.

In his heyday as a sports star, Guo said he received dozens of letters every day from fans across the country.

For the first year after retiring, Guo worked as a sports official in Fuzhou. He then studied for two years at a local university and in 1987, moved to Germany, where he played competitive table tennis for the next six years.

"It was a different world and the reality was harsh. Life was good if you won, but not so good when you lost," he said.

On his return to China he lived in Hong Kong, and two years ago moved to Fujian, where he now lives and works as a coach to the province's top young players.

"It's a big problem that most coaches focus only on established players with the potential to win titles in the short term," he said.

"I like to work with the younger ones. Their future achievements might not be down to me, but I am sure several of them will go on to be very successful."