The Swedish table tennis national team is an opponent that China has respect for, says Persson. Since 1979, it is only Sweden that, apart from China, has managed to win major championship finals.
There are no others who have done it and they know it very well, says Persson.
That he is Sweden's national team captain in Paris is not unimportant either, he believes. Sweden has taken four World Championship gold medals in team events since 1989 and Persson has been involved every time.
They know about it too. So it's what you hope for a little, there is a respect from the Chinese, you hear it from their side. They know that there is someone on the bench who has done it (beaten China).
There are also similarities between what is happening in the table tennis world now and what happened in the 1980s, which culminated in the Swedish table tennis players breaking the Chinese wall when they won the team World Championship in Dortmund 1989.
We had met them and got beaten a lot. But we started beating them a little on the tour. That's what I hope for now too, because the players have met them much more, they have been in more finals and you learn things when you meet them a lot, and the respect loosens a little.
China has only lost one single match in the four finals that have been played since the team event was introduced at the Olympic Games in Beijing 2008. But maybe it's time to break that wall again, says Jörgen Persson.
They are huge favorites. But there is always a chance to beat them. It's been a long time. But it's starting to get time.
