"It's sad and regrettable now, but it's decided: another challenge for my future has begun."
On February 3, 2022, a famous player who used to play table tennis finally officially announced his retirement. Although he is 42 years old and has long been active on the field, when the news was announced, it still triggered a lot of people's "memory killing", because this person once single-handedly let an ancient table tennis playing method occupy a place in the international arena.
Although he has defeated Many national table tennis main players such as Ma Lin, Wang Liqin, Zhang Jike, Ma Long, etc., many Chinese fans still have great respect for this opponent, and the legend has not ended: starting this year, he will become the head coach of the Korean table tennis men's team and will continue to challenge the Chinese team in a new identity!
This person is the former Korean male table tennis star who once had the reputation of "the world's first sharpshooter" - Joo Se-hyuk, do you know him?
Born in 1980, Zhu Shihe was once a super dark horse in the history of table tennis: until the age of 23, he had been unknown, a long-decayed player who had been a chipping style of play for many years, and was considered by many to have no future; after the arrival of 2003, he only stepped into the battlefield of the Paris World Table Tennis Championships as the world's 61st, and no one cared about the existence of this nameless pawn at that time.
As a result, in that battle, he saved the long-lost face for the entire cutting school.
At the World Table Tennis Championships in Paris, Zhu Shihe played a heroic role, with a solid foundation of chipping skills and super counter-offensive ability to beat the national table tennis world champion Marlene off guard, and then eliminated her. Soon after, Zhu Shihe continued to work hard, cutting the Greek famous player Glinka, who had the nickname of "Hercules" in his backhand, out of the final door.
Although the last battle was lost 2-4 to austrian veteran Schlager, Zhu Shihe has created the best result of chippers in the men's singles event of the World Table Tennis Championships for more than half a century, and then broke through the national table tennis defense line many times in more than ten years, and it is not easy to "continue life" for the sharpening school!
Before the 2012 London Olympics, Zhu Shihe was diagnosed with a rare Behcet disease, which had a very big impact on his physical health, but he still insisted on participating in the competition and won the respect of people inside and outside the table tennis circle.
Note: According to reports, Behcet's disease is a rare and difficult disease that causes inflammation throughout the body, and it is almost impossible to cure, and Zhu Shihe had to rely on drugs to relieve the pain, which was very difficult.
After the 2016 Rio Olympics, Zhu Shihe gradually faded out of the field, but in recent years, he did not completely put down the racket, but chose to serve as a personal assistant coach for South Korean youngster Cho Dae-sung and others, while insisting on running on the battlefield of the commercial league, obviously unwilling to forget his identity as an athlete.
But now, he's made a new choice.
As early as January 2022, the Korean Table Tennis Association officially announced the removal of the head coach of the national team, and Wu Shangyu, the third runner-up in the men's singles of the previous table tennis championships, was hurriedly dismissed after only one year as the manager of the men's team, and then his teammate Joo Se-hyuk received the appointment of succession.
The reason for this is, of course, not because Zhu Shihe's results are better (he is the runner-up in the men's singles of the World Table Tennis Championships), but that everyone values his achievements in the training of young athletes more - with the help of Zhu Shihe, 19-year-old Cho Dae-sung has grown into a star of hope in the Korean table tennis world, repeatedly reaching the final four of the national championships, and recently won the championship, which is indeed a young and promising.
In addition, the South Korean men's team coached by Wu Sang-eun suffered a disastrous defeat last year and did not even win a bronze medal at the Olympic Games, which is undoubtedly an important reason for his one-year coaching.
Compared with Wu Shangyu, Zhu Shihe's career was more brilliant and his playing time was more durable, so could he lead the team out of the trough and break through the Chinese team's defense line like his former self? Then let's sit back and wait for the showdown between the national table tennis team and the South Korean team to kick off again!