The curtain has begun for the 2022 season, but the Chinese table tennis team has once again ushered in a farewell moment. Not Ma Long, not Xu Xin, but Matt, one of the best sparring partners in national table tennis. As early as after the end of the Tokyo Olympic Games, the Chinese table tennis team began to upgrade. After the Shaanxi National Games, Fang Bo, Zhou Yu and Yan An of the national table tennis men's team successively chose to bid farewell to the national team, and these three people were called "three musketeers of the national table tennis silver generation" by fans. Although their fame and career achievements are far from several Olympic champions such as Ma Long, Xu Xin, Fan Zhendong, and even less exposed than Wang Chuqin, Lin Gaoyuan and others, they have always been the best partner for the main players of the national table tennis team.
In each competition, these national team second team players and substitute players willingly serve several main players, and sparring, logistics, and cheering groups will appear in their presence. It can be said that the reason why the national table tennis has won numerous awards in the world arena is that in addition to the cooperation of athletes and coaches, these sparring and substitute players are also indispensable. Following the retirement of the "Three Musketeers", there is another player with good strength who chooses to say goodbye to the national team, he is Matt.
The skilled national table tennis model posted on his personal social platform that after a period of communication with the team, he finally chose to leave the Chinese table tennis team.
Although there was no reluctance in leaving this glorious collective, Matt still had to make the decision to leave at this point in time. In the Chinese table tennis team, which is full of talents and frequent champions, everyone is more familiar with several main players who stand on the highest podium in the Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup and other events, and know very little about some second-team players and substitute players who pay silently behind their backs. Matt, on the other hand, is one of the most selfless and dedicated groups in the national table tennis team. April 30, 2009, the day Matt first stepped into the door of the national team, said that he was able to train and live with Olympic champions and world champions every day, so that he learned too much in these nearly 13 years.
In his career, Matt did not achieve too many dazzling results, and he also lost the initiative to compete early in the battle for the places in the world's three major competitions. From the era of Wang Hao and Zhang Jike, to the Ma Long and Xu Xin dynasties, and then to the current Double Star Shine of Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin, Matt has always been a witness to these glorious moments of world champions. He once said in an interview in a competition that his biggest goal is to win the world championship, but in the fierce competition of national table tennis, the opportunity is very slim, in order not to waste his career.
Matt chose to be a sparring partner for the main team, although he could not win gold on the field, but through his own help, watching the main players reach the highest peak, for him, it is also a kind of spiritual comfort and self-affirmation. In the Paris cycle, as he grew older, Matt could not adhere to high-intensity training, and for the construction of the team's talent echelon, he chose to say goodbye to the national table tennis. However, he still said that in the future, he will not and cannot leave the table tennis career. I wish that the "unsung hero" behind the national table tennis can continue to shine for the cause of table tennis in the future life.
(Luo Treasurer)