ALAIN Chen, the Chinese coach with a French passport, will have his job cut out for him as head coach of the Singapore men's table tennis team.

Chen, who took over the hotseat on Monday, faces the unenviable task of bringing the men up to par with their female counterparts, who etched their name into the history books last August at the Beijing Olympics.

And it is a huge gap to bridge. While Li Jiawei, Feng Tianwei and Wang Yuegu grabbed second-place at both the Olympics and the World Championships, Gao Ning, Yang Zi and Cai Xiaoli did not come close to team honours in 2008. They were ranked 10th in the World Championships, and did not progress beyond the group stage of the Olympic team event.

Individually, their rankings also lag far behind the fairer sex. Whilst Li, Feng and Wang occupy top-ten positions in the world, the highest-ranked male paddler is Gao, who is 21st.

In a sport dominated by the juggernaut known as China, Chen knows it will be an uphill battle. But as the men embark on their 2009 campaign, they will have at least one advantage - the undivided attention of a specialist head coach.

Chen's predecessor, Liu Guodong, was in charge of both the men and women's squads. As the Olympics beckoned, Liu understandably focused his energies on Li and company, who, unlike the men, had a realistic chance of grabbing a medal.

As a result, some of the male paddlers doubled up as sparring partners for their female teammates, which sparked unhappiness from players like Gao.

Chen's appointment as a dedicated men's coach will smooth over the ruffled feathers. But more importantly, his coaching experience in France will give a rare technical edge to his players.

Unlike women's table tennis, which is dominated by players from China, the men's arena has a distinctly European flavour to it.

European stars like world No 4 Timo Boll of Germany regularly give the male Chinese paddlers a hard time, with his physical style of play that emphasises more on raw power than finesse.

It is no coincidence that at the last Olympics, both Gao and Yang fell to European-based players in their singles event.

Chen, who has the unique experience of coaching in both China and Europe, will help to address this weakness.

But whether or not he can narrow the gulf in standards within his two-year contract is anyone's guess - especially as the women continue to outstrip the men in terms of results.

Keep a close eye on Gao and Yang's performances in the coming months. It will be the best measure of whether Singapore's decision to hire a French-flavoured Chinese coach will pay off.