At the 2018 Women's Table Tennis World Cup, a total of 5 Chinese athletes, including Wu Yue, Liu Jia and Hong Jianfang, appeared on the stage, and the "Chinese face" could be seen everywhere on the field. Photo by Wang Yu of China News Network
Chengdu, September 29 (Wang Yu) The "overseas corps" from China has always been a phenomenon in the world table tennis arena. At the 2018 Women's Table Tennis World Cup that began on the 28th, including Wu Yue, Liu Jia, and Hong Jianfang, a number of former Chinese players representing foreign players took the stage, and the "Chinese face" could be seen everywhere on the field of the Sichuan Provincial Gymnasium.
Wu Yue, a Beijing girl who represented the United States, was able to come to Chengdu to participate in this year's Women's Table Tennis World Cup with the runner-up of the 2018 Pan-American Cup. However, it is regrettable that she was not in good shape on the first day of the competition, and after losing to Romania's Szox and Austria's Liu Jia, Wu Yue regrettably stopped the group stage.
"I have Olympic dreams. Although it is difficult, especially now that I am older, if I don't fight now, my 2020 will still be a regret, so I still want to fight again. After the game, 28-year-old Wu Yue told reporters that although she has been adrift in the United States for ten years, she still has to continue to fight for her Olympic dream.
Wu Yue, a Beijing girl who represented the United States, was able to come to Chengdu to participate in this year's Women's Table Tennis World Cup with the runner-up of the 2018 Pan-American Cup. Image source: ITTF official WeChat.
Wu's mother, who came to the scene for the first time in ten years to watch Wu Yue play, said: "I have played amateur games, and I have also liked table tennis since I was a child, and my daughter is influenced by me. Sugar cane is not sweet at both ends, playing ball is youth rice, (I am) painful and supportive. Because she likes it. Support as long as she likes it, and stick to it. ”
In fact, as early as 2016, Wu Yue, who could only rely on teaching the ball to survive, after overcoming the difficulties of no coach and no training venue in the United States, with the "dark horse" performance of winning the double crown in the 2015 Pan American Cup, has stood on the field of the Rio Olympic Games as desired, realizing the dream of many years.
Also at the Rio Olympics, Li Ping, who represented Qatar, said in an interview: "In the past, it was difficult for me to get an opportunity to compete internationally for China, let alone the Olympic Games. I really cherish this [Rio Olympics] opportunity. In fact, Li Ping's words also said the voices of many table tennis players who have devoted themselves to overseas.
Data chart: Feng Tianwei.
As the leader of the Chinese Table Tennis Overseas Corps, Feng Tianwei went to Singapore to find new opportunities after losing the national table tennis team. In the team final of the 2010 Moscow World Table Tennis Championships, she scored two points alone, defeated Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen, helped Singapore team to win the Chinese women's team 3:1, won the Kaubylon Cup for the first time in history, and also shattered the dream of the Chinese women's team to "win nine consecutive championships".
The origin of Chinese table tennis players going abroad dates back to the mid-1980s. At that time, Guo Yuehua, a retired star, chose to give up his studies and go to Play in Europe. Since then, more and more Chinese players have joined the ranks of staying in foreign countries, and some have even changed their nationality to become the overseas corps of Chinese table tennis. The turmoil caused by the small mountain Chile was once a buzz in the 90s.
However, due to technical protection and other factors, almost all the players who could play abroad at that time were retired players, some of them in order to reflect their personal surplus value, and some of them were to prolong their sports careers. In 1986, Ni Xialian, who won the Mixed Doubles World Championships with Guo Yuehua, retired and left the national team that had been working hard for 7 years.
In 2016, Ni Became the standard-bearer of the Luxembourg delegation at the closing ceremony of the Rio Olympic Games. Image source: ITTF official Weibo.
Three years later, Ni signed a contract with a German club and settled in Luxembourg two years later. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, 37-year-old Ni Xialian finally fulfilled her Olympic dream and reached the women's singles round of 16. Since then, she has participated in four Olympic Games in Athens, Beijing, London and Rio, becoming a true legend.
Today, although she is getting older, Ni Xialian is still galloping on the sports field, and in the 2018 Women's Table Tennis World Cup, there is also a Chinese athlete who has not aged. She is the oldest player in this World Cup, a 45-year-old table tennis player from Australia who has mobilized Hong Jianfang.
In 1994, Hong Jianfang, who had just retired from the Zhejiang provincial team, followed her boyfriend to Australia. Because of the poor local table tennis atmosphere, Hong Jianfang's overseas table tennis road was intermittent, but in the end, it was difficult to give up her love, so she finally decided to return to the field.
Hong Jianfang in the game. Photo by Wang Yu of China News Network
Unlike in the past, Hong Jianfang said that he now plays "happy ping-pong". In this World Cup, Hong Jianfang won 1 win and 1 loss in the group stage, and was lucky to advance to the knockout round as the first in the group. For this result, she called out the over-completion of the task: "For me, it is all about participating, whether it can win or not." ”
According to the public information on the official website of the International Table Tennis Federation, Hong Jianfang only participates in a few competitions every year, and she told reporters that her current state is to fight if you want to fight, and take your children at home without fighting. "I play ball as a hobby now, and when I'm older, it's good to exercise and go out for a walk." She said.
But it's not easy to keep training on the ground. "Because Australian table tennis (development) is not as systematic as in China, we all have our own things and can't be centralized." I now train my children and husbands as opponents, set up a stage at home and play casually, and familiar with the ball (sense) is training. She said.
When asked how long he would stick to it, Hong Jianfang said: "Like me, I can stop anytime and anywhere, and I can continue to fight anytime and anywhere, but I have always been the first in Australia, and no one can break me (the ranking record), so I have always had confidence and feel that I can play again." (End)