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RIO DE JANEIRO -- When 19-year-old American Yijun Feng played Spaniard Zhiwen Juanito He on Saturday, Feng entered the table tennis match with a slight but unusual advantage, despite being outranked and lacking comparable experience.Decades ago, He and Fengs 58-year-old coach, Massimo Constantini, were rivals.I used to get killed right away, Constantini said of his matches against the 54-year-old He, one of the oldest athletes in Rio de Janiero.All these years later, He still had it, handily beating Feng four games to two in the opening round of the Olympics.Experience matters in table tennis.Youthful strength, daring and stamina rule in many Olympic sports, but table tennis often rewards the deep experience that can only be won with hundreds of hours of practice and match-play. Older players thrive with a close, even devious attention to strategy, a determination to study and then exploit an opponents weaknesses and a gritty refusal to panic under extreme pressure.Run down the list of players at the Rio Olympics and youll see the proof. While there are 16 and 15-year-old phenoms in the lower levels, the top ranks are mostly in their late 20s and 30s; a fair number of qualifiers are in their 40s and even 50s.You need a lot of concentration, rather than a lot of physical strength in this sport, said 40-year-old Vladimir Samsonov, a former top-ranked player from Belarus. He is still in the top 10 and an outside medal contender in Rio.You definitely slow down after you hit 25, but experience counts for a lot in table tennis, Samsanov said.Older players can keep going because the game values skill and technique, according to Constantini, the U.S. coach and a former Olympian who played on the Italian national team until he was 37. He likens the game to a chess match.Table tennis is often as much mental as physical; older players are good at slowing the pace of the game to take away a younger opponents speed and power, forcing errors with spin and trickery, and encouraging lapses in concentration with frustrating defensive tactics.Older players have also benefited from a flurry of changes in recent years, including a bigger ball and games now played to 11 instead of 21 points. Theres also plenty of time to catch their breaths during and between games in the best-of-seven matches.Earlier Saturday, 53-year-old Ni Xia Lian from Luxemburg faced Brazils Caroline Kumahara, 21, and a massively partisan crowd which erupted in thunderous cheers for every Kumahara point. Ni kept calm and won a 4-3 thriller.When the pressure is high, at 10-10, and you can feel the stress, the mature player is much cooler. Its palpable, Constantini said. You can almost touch the feeling of calm because they have been there many, many times before.Samsonov, who is seeded seventh in Rio, no longer practices as many as eight hours a day, as he did in his 20s. He relies more on stretching and yoga, along with the knowledge that he has put in countless hours of practice over the years.And then theres Fengs opponent on Saturday, He.The left-handed Spaniard, who plays an old-school penhold style, is a master of the mental game, using his vast experience to deceive and fluster his opponents.Feng, ahead of the match, repeatedly called Hes style of play disgusting because its so unpredictable and so at odds with the attacking style of many young players today.In the end, Feng said the match came down to the Spaniards legendary serve, which, like that of many other older athletes, poses serious problems for younger players not used to such a wicked array of spin techniques.The Spaniard shrugged after the match when asked how he has been able to maintain his skills for so long.I take good care of myself, He said with a smile. I dont drink and I dont smoke.---Online:AP Summer Games website: http://summergames.ap.org/--Foster Klug, APs bureau chief in Seoul, South Korea, is covering table tennis and badminton in Rio. Follow him at www.twitter/apklug Kenny Clark Super Bowl Jersey . Laudrup revealed Thursday he was notified of his dismissal in "the briefest of letters which gave no reasons why such hasty and final action was deemed necessary. ZaDarius Smith Super Bowl Jersey . LeBron James and Chris Bosh didnt need any more. Williams scored 11 points in 10 minutes, Alan Anderson scored 17 points, and the Brooklyn Nets finished the exhibition season with a 108-87 win over the Miami Heat on Friday night. http://www.shoptheofficialpackers.com/Elite-Kevin-King-Packers-Jersey/ . Most important, perhaps, it went off without a hitch. Organizers poked a little fun at the now-infamous opening ceremony gaffe that saw only four out of five snowflakes open up into rings, leaving the Olympics logo one ring short. Reggie White Super Bowl Jersey .C. Lions has come to an end. Banks told TSN on Jan 2 that he had no interest in playing out the option year of his contract with the Lions in 2014, and he again made that clear in a conversation with Lions GM Wally Buono last week. Jamaal Williams Super Bowl Jersey . Fellow centre Pavel Datsyuk remains out because of a concussion. Zetterberg has 11 goals and 19 assists for a team-high 30 points, and Datsyuk has a team-high 12 goals and 11 assists. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Although Antonio Vargas still thinks about the cut that nearly ended his Olympic dream, his unprotected head will be clear when he steps into the ring in Rio de Janeiro.Vargas grew up sparring and competing in protective headgear, so he had never been cut in a fight before his face split open in that bloody loss at the U.S. Olympic team trials seven months ago. The gifted flyweight from Florida had to fight his way back through the challengers bracket, surviving to earn a spot on the team.Cuts havent been a major concern in Olympic boxing since 1980, but they will be a constant danger in Rio, where the 250 male fighters will box without headgear for the first time since Moscow.Fighters have had three years to adjust to the change, and theyve adapted with the same tenacity that made them boxers in the first place.Im always going to do what I have to do, Vargas said. I dont think its really changed my style. Ill still have the same style going into the Olympics. I just have to be careful.The International Boxing Association (AIBA) made a highly visible alteration to its sport when it removed the headgear ahead of the 2013 world championships. Many fighters are excited for fans to see a sport that looks more like the pros, but the move is still criticized by other fighters and coaches who believe safety has been made secondary to appearance, particularly because of the high potential for cuts in a short, multi-fight tournament.I dont think it was a good idea, taking off the headgear, because were still amateur, U.S. light flyweight Nico Hernandez said. I got cut on both eyes before. I got stitches and stuff from head-butts. I just dont think its as safe for the amateur boxers. But I also like it, because you can have more peripheral vision and you dont get as hot. Ive had a lot of fights without now, so Im used to it.The bulky protective pads were placed on Olympic fighters heads in 1984 because organizers wanted to improve safety, and theyve been pulled off the fighters heading to Rio for ostensibly the same reason.In its lengthy quest to become a professional boxing promoter with control over the Olympics , AIBA went to great lengths to establish a scientific backing for its decision to drop headgear. The IOC also cited research to support the notion that the bulky head guards reduced the number of knockouts and stoppages, thereby reducing concussions.Their conclusions have been disputed by other scientists and fighters alike, but the benefits of reemoving headgear go beyond any concussion data in an inherently dangerous sport: Quite simply, the removal of headgear allows television audiences to see the fighters faces.dddddddddddd.Billy Walsh competed in headgear for his native Ireland at the 1988 Seoul Olympics before becoming one of the amateur sports foremost teachers. The new U.S. coach has adjusted his instructions under the new rules.Without the headgear, weve now got to be a bit more mobile, a bit more flexible, a bit more careful of heads, Walsh said. Weve got to be a bit more elusive. With headgear, we just locked up. Weve had to adapt some skills and techniques, but weve adapted similar stuff we would have been teaching when they had headgear. We all have to adapt.AIBAs changes are expected to continue after Rio, too. Womens boxing kept the headgear for its second Olympic tournament because AIBA says it doesnt have enough concussion data on women, but most female fighters expect AIBA to remove their headgear next year. The male boxers are still wearing tank tops in the ring in another holdover from the sports amateur days, but those are likely to be removed soon as well.Hernandez is among dozens of top Olympians who got experience without headgear by participating in World Series of Boxing, one of two professional leagues launched by AIBA. The WSB fighters have five-round fights that largely resemble pro bouts.Even fighters who dont agree with the science of the decision credit AIBA for attempting to improve their sports marketability, and the governing body has conducted a lengthy campaign to persuade boxers to fight without the in-close, head-butting style that could ruin the tournament.Most of the American fighters also plan to turn pro shortly after the Olympics, so the absence of headgear gives them a head start on the process.But all fighters in Rio will have to be careful with the knowledge that one cut could end their Olympics.With no headgear, at first I was nervous, and I didnt really want to do it, 18-year-old U.S. middleweight Charles Conwell said. But when I got in there, it was the same, basically. You just have to worry about cuts and head-butts. Im less worried now, because Ive got more experience with it. I know the dos and donts of not having headgear on. So Im going to adjust, because I know theres going to be some dirty things that are going to happen out there. ' ' '