After the Tokyo Olympic Games, the replacement speed of the new and old national table tennis has accelerated significantly, the women's team has formed a three-legged posture of Chen Meng, Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu, and the men's team Fan Zhendong has experienced the baptism of the World Table Tennis Championships at the National Games and has officially taken over the baton. However, while the young players are gradually growing, the 14th hero of national table tennis announced his departure!
On January 6, Beijing time, Matt, the number one chipper of the national table tennis men's team, announced his departure from the team, as a chipper, his resume is not as inspiring and legendary as his predecessor Hou Yingchao; all are surnamed Ma, but his fame is far less than that of Marlene and Ma Long. However, on May 7, 2021, at the final of the 2021 "Straight to WTT (World Table Tennis Professional League) Grand Slam World Table Tennis Championships" and the Olympic Simulation Tournament, Matt/Liu Fei won the mixed doubles championship in one fell swoop, which made the Olympian Xu Xin/Liu Shiwen very embarrassed.
Matt as a chipping sparring partner, these years for the national table tennis has paid a lot, in the 2021 Houston World Table Tennis Championships warm-up match, he defeated the national table tennis sister Chen Meng 4-1, won the "gender war", but also helped Chen Meng better make up for his shortcomings in playing the ball. Unexpectedly, at the beginning of the Paris cycle, Matt was about to leave the team, and the reason he gave was very good: "As I get older, the decline in competitiveness is an indisputable fact, coupled with the trouble of injury and other trivial things, so that I really can't train systematically to improve myself." ”
Since the Paris Olympic cycle, a large number of Chinese national table tennis heroes have left, the Grand Slam Ding Ninggong has retired and blown the farewell whistle, the men's team's Fang Bo, Zhou Yu, Yan An, Zheng Peifeng, Cheng Jingqi, the women's team's Feng Yalan, Li Jiayi, Zhang Qiang, Liu Fei, Gu Yuting, Che Xiaoxi, and Sun Yingsha's coach Huang Haicheng followed. Counting Matt, 14 heroes have left in the new cycle of national table tennis!
Now, veterans Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen are still reluctant to say goodbye, they will come back in the next Macau tournament; Zhu Yuling, who has been away from the stadium for a long time, is still recuperating and still has not publicly responded to whether to retire; the most energetic is Ma Long, who has publicly stated that he wants to play another Olympic Games... There are not many veterans of the iron national table tennis, who will be the next to say goodbye?