Recently, the dynamics of the three Olympic champions of national table tennis, Ma Long, Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen, have aroused the attention of fans and friends. Although they have all been invited to prepare for the 2022 WTT Macau Competition, there is no sign of training and preparation, but they have participated in various activities in a row, which many fans and friends have also questioned:
Is this already entering the countdown to retirement?
Friends who pay attention to table tennis know that after the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games and the Western Security Games, Ma Long, Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen entered a semi-retired stage, and their decision to give up participating in the Houston World Table Tennis Championships (the importance of table tennis is second only to the Olympic Games) has established the pattern of the replacement of the old and new national table tennis, and it is likely that they will not return to the world competition stage in the future.
However, at the end of 2021, when the WTT Macau Table Tennis Tournament was announced, Ma Long and Xu Xin attended the press conference, and then they and Liu Shiwen also appeared on the list. However, due to the fact that this event is not recognized by the World Table Tennis Federation as a regular competition of WTT and does not have world ranking points, the national table tennis is not particularly valued, and the three veterans show no signs of preparation.
After the arrival of 2022, we have seen a lot of news that Ma Long, Xu Xin, and Liu Shiwen are participating in or preparing to participate in various activities, covering Beijing, Qingdao, Haikou and other places. At the same time, Fan Zhendong, Chen Meng and others have begun to train for the WTT Macau Competition, which is in stark contrast to the three predecessors.
It is no wonder that as an athlete who once won the table tennis world, Ma Long, Xu Xin, and Liu Shiwen can get the weighty championships that they have already won, and some of them will not have the opportunity to impact again, so it is completely understandable to start their new life planning and choices now: they have won glory for the country for so many years, and now they can indeed relax.
At the end of last year, Ding Ning announced his retirement from the national table tennis grand slam and then went to Peking University to pursue graduate school. Another Grand Slam player older than her advocates that Jike has bid farewell to the field earlier and has not participated in the Competition of the Tokyo Olympic Cycle at all, but has not officially announced his retirement at present, and has participated in many activities in recent years.
And no matter what choices Ma Long, Xu Xin, and Liu Shiwen will make, or continue to play, or choose to retire, we all wish them more excitement in their next career or life, and enjoy their lives happily: Come on, three!