On November 25, Beijing time, the Houston World Table Tennis Championships entered the second match day, in a focus battle in the men's singles, the national table tennis in the second half of the region of the only seedling Zhou Qihao and the German star Bohr fought hard for 5 sets, Zhou Qihao lost 1-4, did not qualify for the men's singles round of 32, the scores of the 5 sets were 8-11, 6-11, 8-11, 11-5 and 10-12 (Zhou Qihao was in front). This is the first defeat of the national table tennis players in this World Table Tennis Championships, and it also means that only one person in the national table tennis team can enter the final men's singles final, and has no chance to win the championship and runner-up of this project.
At this year's World Table Tennis Championships, the national table tennis sent a relatively young team, especially the men's team, Ma Long and Xu Xin, two veterans, who voluntarily gave up participating. In the group draw, the national table tennis men's team suffered a "lower draw", 5 team members who participated in the singles, 4 of them were divided into the upper half of the district, and only Zhou Qihao was alone in the lower half, which meant that once Zhou Qihao could not break through from the lower half, the national table tennis team would have no chance to win the championship and runner-up of the men's singles. In the second half of the district, there are famous players such as Zhang Benzhihe, Pol, Lin Yunru, etc., and the pressure facing Zhou Qihao is very large.
In the first round of the last matchday, Zhou Qihao defeated Italy's Stoyanov 4-0, but Zhou Qihao did not win easily, and the first two sets were reversed. After successfully passing the first round, Zhou Qihao's opponent in the 1/32 final was Germany's famous German Thiem Bohr who bye in the first round. Pol, who is 40 years old, is an "old acquaintance" of national table tennis, he is also a representative of the European table tennis world, once ranked first in the world, currently ranked 11th in the world, and Zhou Qihao is now ranked 114 in the world, there is a relatively large gap between the two.
Zhou Qihao's foreign combat results are relatively average, winning less and losing more, and lost to players who are much lower than his ranking, but in the warm-up competition before the Tokyo Olympic Games this year, Zhou Qihao has successively defeated Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and other national table tennis celebrities and played the role of a dark horse. Zhou Qihao's first three board techniques and forehand lethality are among the best players in the same age group, and he integrates the technique of side cutting in the far stage, and is a player with a very characteristic playing style. What Zhou Qihao lacks now is that his psychological quality needs to be improved, and I believe that the experience of participating in this World Table Tennis Championship will be a valuable asset for the growth of his career, especially with a master like Pol, whether he wins or loses, it will help him improve his mentality.
In the first set, Ball quickly established an advantage at the beginning, Zhou Qihao chased 2 points in a row when he was 2-5 behind, and then the two played a far platform attack and defense, Zhou Qihao played a side ball and raised his hand, and the score came to 6-6. Both sides retreated to attack at the same time, Zhou Qihao hit the ball out of bounds, the score fell into a stalemate, Pol's backhand slash took the lead to get the set point, and 11-8 first, Zhou Qihao fell behind 0-1.
In the second set, Zhou Qihao fell behind 1-4 at the beginning, and Ball's offensive tactics worked very well, but Zhou Qihao chased the score to 5-5 after adapting to his offensive rhythm. Pol alternated attacks with forehands and backhands to score in a slash, Ball scored 3 points to re-establish his advantage, Zhou Qihao made a mistake in his forehand, Pol won another set 11-6, and Zhou Qihao fell behind 0-2.
In the 3rd set, Ball strengthened the control of the short ball in the stage, Zhou Qihao's forehand lost the threat, lost 4 points in a row, fell behind, the two sides played a multi-round attack and defense, Pol made a mistake, Zhou Qihao chased the score to 5-5 draw. Zhou Qihao rushed to the side, Pol played a side ball, Zhou Qihao retreated from the attack, Bol pulled the slash, and Zhou Qihao fell behind 5-7. Ball scored 2 points in a row to extend the advantage, Zhou Qihao was unable to return to the sky, 8-11 and lost another set, falling behind 0-3.
In the 4th set, the two played the ball to hold each other, Zhou Qihao took the lead in scoring, Pol hit the ball wrong, Zhou Qihao attacked out of bounds near the stage, and the scores of the two sides alternately rose. After the 4-4 draw, Zhou Qihao scored 6 consecutive points to get the set point, Pol had more unnecessary mistakes, Zhou Qihao withdrew from Taiwan to attack mistakes, Zhou Qihao saved a set point still to no avail, Zhou Qihao pulled back a set 11-5, and the big score was 1-3 behind.
In the 5th set, after both sides took 1 point each, Zhou Qihao attacked a mistake, Ball played a straight line out of bounds near the platform, Zhou Qihao cut sideways, the two sides attacked and defended for multiple rounds, Pol made a mistake, and Zhou Qihao led 4-2. However, Ball soon completed the score reversal, And Zhou Qihao chased 6 points in a row after 4-9, but Ball was better at handling key points, and Pol won another set 12-10 to win 4-1. With the defeat of Zhou Qihao, the national table tennis was declared lost in the second half of the men's singles.