In the upcoming Houston World Table Tennis Championships, it is of great significance to a national table tennis player, she is Chen Meng, because Chen Meng has won the Women's Singles Championship of the World Cup and the Olympic Games before, and is currently only one singles champion of the World Table Tennis Championships from the "Grand Slam". Some time ago, Li Falcon, the head coach of the national table tennis women's team, also personally pointed out that Chen Meng, who was going to challenge the "Grand Slam" at this World Table Tennis Championships.
On November 18, Beijing time, after arriving in Houston, the first training session of the national table tennis team members, as Chen Meng's head coach, Ma Lin was very strict with him. Ma Lin also publicly showed on her own social media that she led Chen Meng's training, but Liu Guoliang, as the chairman of the Table Tennis Association, publicly ridiculed Ma Lin on social media, believing that Ma Lin was already bald at the age of 40, and she was not merciless about Ma Lin's hard injury, in fact, the two did have a "grudge".
Dating back 22 years, at the 45th World Table Tennis Championships in Eindhoven in 1999, Liu Guoliang and Ma Lin both reached the men's singles final, which is of great significance to both of them. Liu Guoliang had previously won the men's singles championship of the Olympic Games and the World Cup, and was the only singles champion in the World Table Tennis Championships from the "Grand Slam", while Ma Lin was only 19 years old at the time and reached the singles final of the three major competitions of the International Table Tennis Federation for the first time, and winning the championship may change Ma Lin's career later.
At that time, Marlene was not afraid of tigers when she first came out, and successively eliminated three strong opponents of Kanazawa Soo, Samsonov and defending champion Waldner, and entered the final final. At that time, the game was a 21-point single-game, 5-inning 3-win system, and Ma Lin led Liu Guoliang 2-1 with a large score. In the end, the two played the decider, and in the decider, the score was tied to 22-22, and the scene can be said to be the most critical moment. In the end, Liu Guoliang seized the opportunity and scored 2 points in a row to win the decider, thus reversing Marlene 3-2 with a big score, winning the men's singles championship of the World Table Tennis Championships, and also becoming the first "Grand Slam" winner of the national table tennis men's team.
Ma Lin's loss to Liu Guoliang in the men's singles final of this World Table Tennis Championships can be said to be just the beginning. Six years later, at the 48th Shanghai World Table Tennis Championships in 2005, Ma Lin once again reached the men's singles final, when her opponent was Wang Liqin. It should be known that Wang Liqin has already won the men's singles championship of the World Table Tennis Championships in 2001, and this is also his second time to enter the men's singles final of the World Table Tennis Championships. At that time, the game was changed to 11 points in a single set, and a 4-win system in 7 sets. However, the ending was strikingly similar, Marlene finally reversed by Wang Liqin 4-2 in the case of a 2-1 lead in the big score, once again rubbing shoulders with the men's singles champion of the World Table Tennis Championships.
However, two years later, Marlene reached the men's singles final for the third time at the 49th World Table Tennis Championships in Zagreb, against Wang Liqin. This time, Marlene played very well in the opening game, leading Wang Liqin 3-1 in the big score and 7-1 in the small score of the 5th set, Marlene only needed to score 4 more points to win her first World Table Tennis Championships singles championship. However, at this moment, Marlene suddenly lost power, Wang Liqin counterattacked, and finally reversed the game 4-3. At this point, Marlene fell on the stage of the men's singles final of the World Table Tennis Championships for the third time.
Marlene won 4 World Cup men's singles championships and 1 Olympic men's singles championship when she retired, and it is indeed a pity to look back on the three times the men's singles final of the World Table Tennis Championships from the "Grand Slam". At present, his disciple Chen Meng is about to stand on the stage of the World Table Tennis Championships and launch an attack on his "Grand Slam". However, from the current point of view, Chen Meng's difficulty in winning the championship is indeed not small, and Wang Manyu and Sun Yingsha of the national table tennis women's team have grown rapidly. In the National Games in September, Chen Meng was twice kept a clean sheet by Wang Manyu and lost to Chen Xingtong, so the current Chen Meng did not have an advantage in the internal competition of the national table tennis women's team.
Ma Lin's unfinished dream may have to be pinned on Chen Meng's body, but for Chen Meng, it is indeed difficult, and I don't know if Chen Meng once said that "my era has come", whether this time can really get his wish.