MISSION: To get Singapore's top men table tennis players to join the ranks of the world's elite.

The man tasked to do it is the new head coach of the men's national team, Alain Chen, who replaces Liu Guodong who has left.

The 47-year-old French national oversaw his first training session this morning, putting paddlers Gao Ning and Yang Zi through their paces at the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) headquarters in Toa Payoh.

For more The Straits Times stories, click here.