At present, it is getting closer and closer to the start of the Houston World Table Tennis Championships, and players from various associations have arrived in the United States. At this World Table Tennis Championships, with the withdrawal of Ma Long and Xu Xin, it will be a huge challenge for the national table tennis men's team. Although the national table tennis men's team still has the world's first ranked Fan Zhendong, but it should be known that with the withdrawal of Ma Long and Xu Xin, in the men's singles competition of this World Table Tennis Championships, the second and third and fourth seeded players are all players of the foreign association, so there may be an extreme situation, that is, the 5 players participating in the Chinese competition are equally divided in the same half, which is very unfavorable for the Chinese table tennis team.
Liu Guoliang
Among the 5 players participating in the national table tennis competition, only Fan Zhendong can reassure the coaching team, and the other 4 players Lin Gaoyuan, Liang Jingkun, Wang Chuqin and Zhou Qihao have not performed steadily in recent times. Just recently, Zhang Benzhihe, the main player of Japanese men's table tennis and the second seed of the men's singles of this World Table Tennis Championships, spoke very low-key in an interview, when the reporter asked: "What is the goal of this World Table Tennis Championships?" Zhang Benzhi replied modestly: "First of all, we must enter the quarterfinals and strive to stand on the podium." For Zhang Benzhihe, who was arrogant before, this answer can be said to be very low-key and introverted.
Zhang Benzhihe was interviewed
After Ma Long and Xu Xin withdrew from the World Table Tennis Championships, Zhang Benzhihe of the Japanese team was completed, making him the second seed of this World Table Tennis Championships. In fact, in the Slovenian series held in early November, the reason why the national table tennis coaching team sent Lin Gaoyuan to participate was to allow Lin Gaoyuan to win the championship in the two tournaments, so that he could surpass Zhang Benzhihe and become the No. 2 seeded player in the World Table Tennis Championships. However, Lin Gaoyuan was very uncontentious, one stop in the top 16 and one stop at the top 4 in the two tournaments, which did not complete the goal of the national table tennis coaching team well, so that Zhang Benzhihe became the second seed player of the World Table Tennis Championships, disrupting the layout of the national table tennis team in the World Table Tennis Championships.
Lin Gaoyuan
This year's Zhang Benzhihe is only 18 years old, but he has been the main opponent of the national table tennis men's team for 3 years. Back in June 2018, Zhang Benzhihe, who was only 15 years old at the time, reached the men's singles final of the Japan Open Table Tennis Championships against Zhang Jike, the winner of the "Grand Slam" and the Chinese team. The final result was that Zhang Benzhihe, who was only 15 years old, defeated Zhang Jike, who was 15 years older, 4-3 with a big score, and that game made Zhang Benzhihe famous in a match. In December of the same year, in the men's singles final of the ITTF Finals, Zhang Benzhihe defeated another Chinese player, Lin Gaoyuan, 4-3, becoming the youngest champion of the event. So far, the national table tennis coaching staff has attached great importance to the young player of the Japanese team.
Zhang Benzhihe
Zhang Benzhihe's highest light performance is not only this, in the December 2019 World Cup men's singles semifinals, Zhang Benzhihe defeated China's "Grand Slam" Player Ma Long 4-2 with a large score, which can be said to have surprised Liu Guoliang in a cold sweat at that time. In the final final, fortunately, Fan Zhendong defeated Zhang Benzhihe 4-2 and did not let the champion fall by the wayside. Although Zhang Benzhihe's overall performance in the last World Table Tennis Championships and this year's Tokyo Olympic Games was not good, from the low-key words interviewed by reporters in recent days, it is enough to show that the national table tennis players should not take it lightly.
In the men's singles competition of the World Table Tennis Championships, in addition to Zhang Benzhihe, there are three major competitors for the national table tennis men's team, namely the third seeded Brazilian player Hugo, the fourth seeded player Lin Yunru of Chinese Taipei, and the seventh seeded Swedish player Falke.
Seed No. 3: Hugo (Brazil)
It can be said that Hugo is the strongest table tennis player in the Western Hemisphere, and in most of the competitions in the Americas, he can achieve very good results, so the current points are very high, ranking fifth in the world. In 2018, he once defeated China's Lin Gaoyuan and Fan Zhendong, but in recent years, Hugo's confrontation with the national table tennis players has been completely inferior. However, in the World Table Tennis Championships, Hugo, who ranked as the third seed, deserves the attention of the national table tennis players.
Hugo
Seed No. 4: Lin Yunru (Taipei, China)
Lin Yunru made the most memorable match for the national table tennis men's team, no more than in the 2019 World Cup men's singles third and fourth finals, Lin Yunru defeated Ma Long 4-3 and won the third place in the men's singles of the World Cup, you know that Lin Yunru was only 17 years old at the time. At this year's Tokyo Olympic Games, Lin Yunru also performed very strongly. In the men's singles semifinals, he fought against national table tennis player Fan Zhendong for 7 rounds, and finally lost to Fan Zhendong 3-4. In this World Table Tennis Championships, Lin Yunru will definitely give the national table tennis men's team a great threat, which should be highly valued by the national table tennis men's team.
Lin Yunru
No. 7 Seed: Fark (Sweden)
At the 2019 Budapest World Table Tennis Championships, Fark, who was in the lower half of the district, in the case of Xu Xin being eliminated in advance, passed the hurdles and reached the final men's singles final. The last time a Swedish player reached the men's singles final of the World Table Tennis Championships, it goes back 22 years, when he was the first "Grand Slam" winner of the Ittf. So after Falke reached the final of the World Table Tennis Championships, the Fans in Sweden celebrated wildly, but in the final, Fark still lost 1-4 to Malone and missed the championship. In this World Table Tennis Championships, Fark is bound to become a difficult opponent for the national table tennis players.
Falke
In summary, the national table tennis men's team is destined not to be smooth sailing in the World Table Tennis Championships, but this is not necessarily a bad thing for the Chinese table tennis team.