Liu Shiwen won the mixed doubles championship and the women's singles runner-up at the WTT Macau Championship some time ago, which made people lament the veteran's tenacity. Although she is already injured and her age is not small, Liu Shiwen is still insisting on her dream. The biggest regret of Liu Shiwen's career is undoubtedly that she has not won an Olympic singles gold medal, which also makes her miss the title of Grand Slam player. However, with the new reform of the World Table Tennis League system, Liu Shiwen has also ushered in a new turning point. A few days ago, the Table Tennis Federation officially confirmed the news that Liu Shiwen is expected to become a Grand Slam winner under the new format, no wonder Xiao Zao does not want to retire now.
Liu Shiwen has been famous for a long time, and after Wang Nan, Zhang Yining and other veterans quit, she and Li Xiaoxia, Ding Ning and others continued the traditional advantages of national table tennis. However, when Li Xiaoxia and Ding Ning became Grand Slam winners and retired successively, Liu Shiwen now seems to be a bit alone. Compared with Li Xiaoxia and Ding Ning, Liu Shiwen's career achievements are worse, she won the women's singles championship in the World Table Tennis Championships and the World Cup, but did not win the olympic singles gold medal. In fact, Liu Shiwen has not even participated in the Olympic singles competition, which is a big regret for Xiao Ju.
In fact, after last year's Olympic Games, the discussion about whether Liu Shiwen would retire was very heated, but Xiao Zao finally chose to continue to struggle. At the WTT Macau Championship at the beginning of this year, Liu Shiwen eliminated Sun Yingsha to reach the women's singles final without being favored, and although she lost to Wang Manyu 0-4, she still let us see the tenacity of the veteran. At least for now, we don't see Liu Shiwen's plans to retire, and she also hopes to continue to fight on her beloved ping-pong table.
On February 8, the World Table Tennis Federation officially confirmed that the first WTT Grand Slam event of the year will be held in Singapore. The competition lasts for two weeks and features men's and women's singles and mixed doubles matches. If you can win the singles championship, you will receive a prize of 100,000 US dollars, which is undoubtedly very attractive for athletes. This news of the World Table Tennis Federation also marks the official opening of a new Grand Slam tournament after the restructuring. At this point, the pattern of table tennis events will be rewritten, and the grand slam players will also be redefined.
Obviously, the World Table Tennis Federation is imitating tennis, and there will be four Grand Slam tournaments every year, which is the four Grand Slams that imitate tennis. That is to say, as long as you get one of the four Grand Slam events, you are eligible to be called a Grand Slam player, which is different from the past practice of winning the Olympic Games, the World Table Tennis Championships, and the World Cup in three major events to be called a Grand Slam player. Malone has previously said that he wants to experience a new Grand Slam event, so he does not want to retire for the time being. It seems that Liu Shiwen also has the same idea as the Dragon Team.
The reform of the format of the table tennis federation means that Liu Shiwen also hopes to become a Grand Slam winner. Of course, this is not the same as Deng Yaping, Wang Nan, Zhang Yining, Li Xiaoxia, Ding Ning, their Grand Slams, but it is still full of gold. If nothing else, a prize of $100,000 is enough to prove the winner's worth. For Liu Shiwen, whose state is picking up, she has every opportunity to impact the Grand Slam championship under the new format, which is no wonder That XiaoJu does not want to retire.