According to the relevant arrangements of the International Table Tennis Federation, the WTT Germany competition officially began on January 12. None of the players of the national table tennis team signed up for this event. Currently, they are conducting their final pre-match training in preparation for the WTT Macau Star. According to the current relevant news, the location of the German competition is Düsseldorf, similar to a number of European WTT tournaments in 2021, and the WTT Germany competition is also to be played twice, but for the safety of the players, the location of both matches is arranged in Düsseldorf. In addition to the collective absence of the national table tennis players from this event, the well-known players of various table tennis powers in Asia will basically miss the event. This also greatly reduces the ranking and strength of the participating players.
However, in the same German race, the players registered in the first leg are even lower in strength and ranking. Austria's Gardos and Germany's Shan Xiaona became the top seeds of the tournament. The two are ranked 26th in the world men's singles rankings and the other is ranked 38th in the women's singles rankings. Although such rankings may seem uncompetitive, players of this level can already be considered top masters with asian players basically not participating. And the second race in Germany, the ranking and strength of the players have increased to a certain extent, including both the third seed of the German men's table tennis Francesca, and the African sister Messeliff, according to their ranking and competitiveness in the world arena, the second leg of the WTT German station can still obviously make us feel that the grade of the game has been greatly improved.
Although Francesca, as germany's third-in-command, compared with his two brothers, Pol and Ochalov, has a lack of honors and a gap in the world rankings. However, it is worth mentioning that Francesca's playing temperament is very good, the comprehensive technical ability, and the adaptability on the field are also good, and the three main players in the national table tennis team, Fan Zhendong, Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan, have all been his defeated generals. Such a matchup is also destined to francesca to have a good result in the event held on his doorstep. In addition, unlike the Macau Star, which only has a high prize money and no points, Francesca can also earn more points in the WTT Germany competition. This can also be said to be Francesca's biggest benefit as a well-known German player. Another point that needs to be reminded of fans is that as the former main force of national table tennis, Ni Xialian, who now represents Luxembourg, also registered for these two tournaments. It is believed that the experience of getting a singles runner-up in the WTT Slovenia station and even defeating Wang Yidi has made her enjoy the feeling of playing table tennis more and more. Being able to compete near her doorstep, 58-year-old Ni Xialian will not miss the opportunity.
I remember that fans have asked why this kind of WTT sub-station competition without the world's highest level of players participating, the national table tennis is not in the case of the main preparation for other events, give some young second-tier players the opportunity to go to the world field to receive exercise, after all, the game is not like the Macau tournament without points, if young players can compete with European masters, but also increase the world ranking points, it is also a good result. Is it too much of a pity to give up?
In fact, from a long-term perspective and the overall team interests of national table tennis, it is definitely the right choice to give up the registration for the competition. After all, whether it is a young player, an old player or a player who is in the middle of a fight, they all train in one team. German veteran Bohr, who tested positive for China after returning to China after participating in the World Table Tennis Championships, was diagnosed as an asymptomatic infected person, he has been self-isolating at home for a long time, and has not completely resumed training so far. In this case, the young players of the national table tennis to participate, I am afraid that not only the purpose of the exercise can not be achieved, and may even give the entire national table tennis training team the preparation of the Macao tournament to influence again. It may also bring more uncertain safety and health risks. In short, we must believe in the wisdom of the national table tennis coaching staff, especially the head of the table tennis association, Liu Guoliang, and support their decision to give up participating in the WTT Germany event. No matter from which point of view, it is already a major success for the national table tennis team to be able to return to the team with ma long, Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen to work with their teammates to prepare for the WTT Macau Star Race held locally and strive for the best results.