The first event of the national table tennis in 2022, the WTT Macau Championships, has come to an end, with Wang Chuqin and Wang Manyu winning the men's and women's singles titles respectively, becoming the biggest winners of this competition. Liu Shiwen won the mixed doubles championship and the women's singles runner-up, allowing everyone to see a recovering jujube. The world number one Chen Meng once again lost to Wang Manyu 3-4 in the semi-finals, missing out on the champion. However, while the national table tennis continues to achieve good results, the team is also changing. Ding Ning's captain position, which has been vacant since his retirement, has also been selected, and Chen Meng and Ma Long have delivered a summary speech together.
As the world number one player in women's table tennis today, Chen Meng's career can also be regarded as a late bloomer. Compared with the contemporary Zhu Yuling, Chen Meng's growth rate is indeed slow. When Zhu Yuling has won the runner-up of the women's singles of the World Table Tennis Championships, Chen Meng cannot even be said to be the absolute main force of the national table tennis women's team. Even in the competition with Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, Chen Xing and other new generation players of national table tennis, Chen Meng could not say that he had an advantage at the beginning. However, just as the so-called Heavenly Dao rewards hard work, Chen Meng, with his own hard work, finally achieved overtaking in the corner, and won the Olympic championship before other competitors.
Chen Meng is now only one World Table Tennis Women's Singles Champion to complete the Grand Slam achievement, which she could have achieved at last year's Houston World Table Tennis Championships, but she lost to Wang Manyu. In the end, Wang Manyu defeated Sun Yingsha and won the gold medal in women's singles at the World Table Tennis Championships. In this WTT Macau Championship, Chen Meng met Wang Manyu again, similar process, the same result, Chen Meng lost to Wang Manyu again 3-4, and failed to reach the final. After the Olympics, Chen Meng lost to Wang Manyu several times, which can no longer be described by chance or luck, and Chen Meng may really sum it up.
After the end of the WTT Macau Championship, many members of the national table tennis team also updated their social platforms to summarize the personal performance of the competition. But the state of Chen Meng and Ma Long is different, the two of them sent a large group photo of the national table tennis, and the text said that the national table tennis is a big family, and also wished everyone a happy Year of the Tiger in advance. Obviously, Ma Long is the captain of the national table tennis men's team, so the text has long been a routine operation. But Chen Meng's words are the same as Ma Long's, which has to make people think deeply, and it can be seen that Chen Meng's role in the team is also changing.
After Ding Ning retired, the position of captain of the national table tennis women's team was vacant, and in terms of seniority, vice captain Liu Shiwen should be the captain the most. However, Liu Shiwen is also a veteran after all, and it is difficult to say how long she can play, so it is most appropriate to choose one of the young players to be the captain. Although Wang Manyu and Sun Yingsha have excellent results, they are too young after all, and chen Meng is the most suitable in comparison. From the summary speech made by Chen Meng and Ma Long on the social platform together, it can be seen that in fact, Chen Meng has already used the standard of the captain to demand herself, and she has played the role of a captain.
The captain of the national table tennis team not only requires excellent results, but also must have a high emotional intelligence in terms of being a person, and must get the support of teammates. Malone is a good example, and the retired Ding Ning is also a good example. Perhaps Chen Meng can learn from it, although there is no official statement that Chen Meng is already the captain, but her words and deeds are now the best candidate for the captain.