Friends who pay attention to table tennis know that last year, two Grand Slam elders, Liu Guoliang and Waldner, officially announced that they would hold a new event, called "Liu Guoliang - Lao Wa Cup", and they would lead the top athletes of China and foreign associations to compete with each other and reproduce the scene of "the world playing China".
According to the latest news, Germany's 2 world champions Pol and Ochalov have confirmed their participation in this event, and the official website has also updated the relevant information synchronously, for which many fans have bluntly said: Since the "world team" has such a strong master to join, then the Chinese team must at least send several world champions to play, right?
Waldner is the first Grand Slam winner in the history of table tennis, Liu Guoliang is the first men's Grand Slam player in the history of national table tennis, as early as the athlete period the two have been famous in the world, after retiring is still influential.
In particular, Liu Guoliang, who served as the head coach of the national table tennis men's team, the head coach of the whole team, and now the president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, the chairman of the WTT World Table Tennis Federation Council, the executive vice chairman of the International Table Tennis Federation, holds a high position of authority, and has been promoting the development of table tennis in China and the world.
Compared with Liu Guoliang, Waldner's life after retiring from the army is very leisurely, and now at the age of 56, he is still single and unmarried to start a new family. Although many people expected him to be a coach, this did not happen, so when the news of the upcoming "Liu Guoliang- Lao Wa Cup" came out, some old fans could not believe it: How did Lao Wa suddenly become diligent?
But in any case, Waldner, as the first Grand Slam winner in the table tennis world, countless table tennis players and enthusiasts "idol idols", its influence is indeed incomparable to ordinary people, so his cooperation with Liu Guoliang will undoubtedly expand the influence of new events, and the joining of Bol and Ocharov, who were once deeply influenced by Lao Wa, is the best proof.
According to the previous news and official website, the "Liu Guoliang - Lao Wa Cup" is expected to start on July 26-31, 2022, the location is Oslo, Norway (I don't know why it was chosen here, not China or Sweden), so Norway's local player AIDA DAHLEN also locked a ticket in advance, but in terms of her strength, the probability is that it is important to participate.
Since it is not an official competition of the International Table Tennis Federation, there is not much pressure on the national table tennis, so many fans suggest that Ma Long, Zhang Jike, Xu Xin, Liu Shiwen, who faded out of the front line of the game, and the retired Ding Ning, and even Kong Linghui, Zhang Yining and others participate - so what kind of lineup will Liu Guoliang send? Let's sit back and wait for this tournament to kick off!