Table tennis is known as the "national ball" by Chinese fans, and in the past thirty years, the Chinese table tennis team has made many achievements that have attracted the attention of the world, and is worthy of today's table tennis hegemony.
One by one, the people of the times continue to inherit the glorious inheritance of Chinese table tennis, standing at the forefront of the world table tennis world, and at the same time emerging a large number of players who have won grand slams, which is a unique glory in the world.
In the long river of table tennis development, men's singles is the top priority in table tennis.
In addition to the Chinese team, there are also generations of strong opponents around the world that can compete with us, and it is this suspenseful competition and confrontation that together interpret the wonderful charm of table tennis.
Among the many men's players of the foreign association, there is one person: he is a late player, but he has brought many tests to the Chinese men's table tennis; he is a European, but he has the first three board skills that European players do not have; he was once the "nemesis" of the Grand Slam winner Kong Linghui in the world competition, and he was the last European player to win the men's singles championship in the World Table Tennis Championship with the highest gold content; he was like a white-faced student, but he was also known as the "Emperor of Wild Balls"...
Who is the largest foreign association player of the Chinese men's team in the past 30 years?
There is no doubt that the table tennis evergreen, the world's first Grand Slam winner Waldner bore the brunt of it, in addition to the "respected and loved" old tile, Person, Glinka, Bol, Samsonov, Liu Chengmin, etc., were once the main competitors of the Chinese men's team.
In addition to Sweden, Europe's table tennis power is the German team, but in the middle, the once unknown Austrian team has killed an accidental "dark horse" halfway, and he has shown a "old and pretty" good play in the 31-year-old table tennis "twilight year".
Today, the Great Qin Gecko will talk with you about the former European "fourth tiger" and the last European champion in the men's singles of the World Table Tennis Championships - Werner. Schlager.
Schrage is definitely a dangerous player, he does not have the evergreen of Lao Wa, does not have the agility of Bol, does not have the fierceness of Liu Chengmin, nor the strength of Lao Sa, but is a table tennis master who does not show the mountain dew, many fans do not know much about Schlager, because he did not have many highlight moments, he was still unknown before the age of 28, until the age of 30, his peak period was only three or four years, so he was quickly submerged in the world table tennis strongmen.
But it is such a late player who was once the real headache enemy of the Chinese men's team.
Kong Linghui, the "Prince of Table Tennis", is an innovative figure in the Chinese men's team, and the "Kong Liu" era created by him and Liu Guoliang wrote an important chapter of the Chinese men's team dominating the table tennis world.
Kong Linghui has lost several deplorable goals, the most disturbing of which was the semi-final of the 2003 World Table Tennis Championships, when he was reversed by the opponent when he took the lead in getting the match point, and after 2001, he once again missed the opportunity to be crowned the world table tennis championships for the second time.
It was the Austrian Schlager who gave Kong Linghui a humiliating defeat.
In fact, this is not the first time that Schlager has defeated Kong Linghui at the World Series.
At the 1999 World Cup, when it was still a 21-point system, Schlager defeated Kong Linghui in two sets and made him unable to qualify from the group.
Coincidentally, whenever Kong Linghui was defeated, Schrage's final result was quite dazzling.
In the 1999 World Cup, after defeating Kong Linghui in the group stage, Schlager passed the hurdles all the way, and Waldner, Persson, etc. were all his losers, and finally won the world cup runner-up that year;
At the 2003 World Table Tennis Championships in Paris, after defeating Kong Linghui in the semi-finals, he won the final championship in the final.
Although Kong Linghui won more than he lost in the total head-to-head record, Schlager was able to defeat Kong Linghui in major events such as the World Cup and the World Table Tennis Championships, on both the 21-point scale and the 11-point scale, which is enough to show his ability.
To this day, when people think of the two fighting, the only thing they can remember is probably the two games that the old prince lost.
In fact, that year's World Table Tennis Championships, in addition to Kong Linghui, "vigorous" Wang Liqin was even more regrettable, he led 3:1 in the 1/4 final set, and once held 4 match points with a small score of 10:4 in the sixth set, which was magically reversed by the Austrians, which was even more incredible.
A few years later, "Vigorous" gave this bitter script to his teammate Marlene.
The 2003 victory, the crowning moment of Schlager's career, became the last European player to win the World Championship.
Schlager doesn't have a tall stature and strength, and his ability to hold the ball is not very good, so what is his winning weapon?
The first is the serve, Schlager's serve ability is ranked by many fans within the top five of all players in history, and his forehand is half high and half out of the serve, combined with different directions of rotation, causing discomfort to many opponents;
The second is the ability of the first three boards, relying on the advantages established by the serve, connecting the rush to attack the first three boards, and quickly occupying the advantage on the field, which is the Austrian's best play;
The third is backhand tearing, Schlager's backhand ability to stand alone in the table tennis, especially with a backhand tearing straight line, but also let the opponent invincible.
1999 was the year of Schlager's rise, and 2003 was his shining moment.
When today's Zhang Benzhihe and Moregold have gradually become the subjects of study of the men's team, the European "fourth tiger" who was once known as the "fourth tiger" after Lao Wa, Lao Sa and Pol is equally daunting.
He is the jade-faced and wild European champion , Schlager.