The 2021 Houston World Table Tennis Championships is in full swing, and on the morning of November 25, 40-year-old Chinese Taipei world champion Zhuang Zhiyuan lost 7 innings in a bitter matchup with 19-year-old Swedish rising star Moregold, stopping the second round of the men's singles matchup.
And it is worth mentioning that in yesterday's men's singles first round, Chen Jian'an, a teammate who won the men's doubles gold medal at the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships with Zhuang Zhiyuan, has also been out: the two have shared the world championship title "common wealth", and now they are "suffering together" The former servants have been eliminated, which is really difficult brother!
Zhuang Zhiyuan was born in 1981, is the main opponent of the national table tennis "two kings and one horse" era, once 11-0 critical hit Ma Lin, but also defeated Wang Hao, Ma Long and other core main players, last year was 3 consecutive wins over the Japanese team Zhang Benzhihe, the state is very good.
Before this year's World Table Tennis Championships, Zhuang Jiyuan also reached the men's singles final at the Asian Championships, but in the end he lost to South Korea's Lee Sang-so and was relegated to the second place. However, for a 40-year-old veteran, this performance is already very good, so everyone wants to see how he can play at the World Table Tennis Championships, but he did not survive the second round.
In the battle against Moregold, Zhuang Zhiyuan played very hard in the first set, and finally won 12-10. In the second set, the young player also drew the gourd, returned a 12-10 to the predecessor, and then went down two cities 11-5, 11-7, and the big score was 3-1 to force Zhuang Zhiyuan into a desperate situation.
At the critical moment, the veteran did not easily surrender his weapons, but used his rapid connection advantage to win two consecutive 11-3, successfully dragging the game into the decider. However, in the seventh game of the big battle, Zhuang Zhiyuan finally became the end of the strong crossbow, and finally lost the score of 8-11, and did not qualify for the round of 32: a pity!
How to say it, Moregold this athlete's level is also very good, known as the successor of the Grand Slam Waldner, the style of play is also somewhat similar to Lao Wa, plus he is 21 years younger than Zhuang Zhiyuan, physically certainly more dominant, the so-called "fist is afraid of less strong", Zhuang Zhiyuan lost to him is not surprising.
However, Zhuang Zhiyuan's loss also highlights the strength of German veteran Pol - also 40 years old, Pol today in the men's singles competition 4-1 easily defeated the national table tennis player Zhou Qihao, completely grasped the initiative on the field, it seems that he is more evergreen! So will Zhuang Zhiyuan have a highlight performance in the future? Let's wait and see what happens!