Xu Yinsheng, as soon as he looked at the name, knew that he was born in the year of the tiger. 61 years ago, he scored 12 consecutive goals on the field of the opponent, and became angry and became a memory of a generation. Today, at the age of 84, he is still in good spirits.
In the new spring of Nongyin, seeing this "table tennis wisdom star", first listened to him talk about the Beijing Winter Olympics and the women's football championship, and the excitement overflowed into words.
Xu Yinsheng told the reporter of Jiefang Daily and Shangguan about his passionate sports life, and did not forget to pay tribute to the readers of Jiefang Daily and Shangguan News: "In the new year, I will participate in more sports activities and wish everyone good health!" ”
In 2008, Xu Yinsheng participated in the table tennis celebrity exhibition competition. Xinhua News Agency photo
On the phone, he interviewed the old man, and he said: "You don't have to come to the door, I will come out and go to the Itttennis Federation Museum at 796 Jumen Road." You are welcome to visit first, and we will continue to talk. ”
On a winter morning, I finally saw this famous ping-pong player, dressed in a winter cold and sunny body. "Do you know why I'm dating here?" He said, "Shanghai is an international metropolis. When I heard that the International Table Tennis Federation was looking for a place to establish a museum, the Shanghai Municipal People's Government quickly agreed with the State General Administration of Sports, and finally introduced it and opened it to the public free of charge, hoping to let more people see this museum through your publicity. ”
After more than two hours of interviews, the reporter couldn't help but step into the exhibition hall again, this time looking more closely. Here is the development process of a great sport, the road of Chinese sports for many years, the shining life of many outstanding coaches and athletes, and the full expectations of the 84-year-old table tennis "tiger general".
Xu Yinsheng, who has smiling eyes and bent eyes, was a tiger when he buckled his opponent's 12 big boards in the international arena that year. Picture of the upper profile
Sports is like a universal language, breaking through many barriers and becoming an opportunity for friendly exchanges around the world
Shangguan Reporter: How did you get involved with ping-pong?
Xu Yinsheng: I have loved to play table tennis since I was a child. The primary school before the founding of New China had no playground and sports facilities, so it could only use bricks as nets in the alley, draw a frame with chalk on the ground, make wooden rackets, and play ball in a squat. The real ability to play on the table is still after the liberation of Shanghai, the state called for the development of sports and the enhancement of people's physique. Places like Yong'an Department Store, Leather Industry Union, Shanghai Workers' Cultural Palace and other places have set up table tennis tables for employees to exercise and enliven cultural life. The little table tennis has a lot of mysteries and endless fun, and I was deeply fascinated and "grabbed" the table everywhere to play.
Juvenile heroism on the table. Courtesy of the ITTF Museum
Shangguan Reporter: Later, from an amateur to a professional athlete, did your feelings about table tennis and sports change?
Xu Yinsheng: Growing up to become a professional athlete, I feel that sports is not only personal, it is like a universal language, breaking through many barriers and becoming an opportunity for friendly exchanges around the world. If playing table tennis was a hobby at the beginning, then later when I entered the professional team, I gradually realized that this is a career and a responsibility.
In the early days of our country's founding, due to the creation of "two Chinas" by the International Olympic Committee at that time, the mainland withdrew, thus severing relations with many international sports organizations. Montague, the founder of the International Table Tennis Federation, has friendly feelings for China and takes the initiative to invite China to join. The mainland also took table tennis as a breakthrough to the world, decided to be invited to join, and formed a team to participate in the World Table Tennis Championships. With such a platform, you can understand the development of table tennis technology in the world and see your own gap. After several years of hard work, our level has improved and entered the world's advanced ranks.
In 1958, Guangdong athlete Rong Guotuan ascended to the top and vowed to win the world championship. At the 25th World Table Tennis Championships held in Germany in 1959, Rong Guotuan passed five levels and won the men's singles world championship in one fell swoop. This is the first world championship in Chinese sports, which has had a great impact at home and abroad, and the door to world championships has finally been opened. Two years later, at the 26th World Table Tennis Championships in Beijing, Chinese athletes won three championships in men's and women's singles. Since then, a ping-pong boom has been set off in China. Elementary and middle school students almost all carry rackets in their school bags, and they can be seen everywhere queuing up around the table to play.
Shangguan reporter: Joining the ITTF family has improved the level of table tennis in the mainland and also set off a ping-pong fever.
Xu Yinsheng: Table tennis has allowed us to integrate into the big platform of international sports, and also let more countries understand China. In the year of the Beijing World Table Tennis Championships, during the difficult period in China, Japan formed a team to participate. At that time, there were rumors that they were afraid that they would not have enough to eat in China, so they brought their own rice. Later, I talked to the Japanese players privately and asked about it. He said, "I brought rice, but your food is good, so you don't need it at all." ”
At the end of the Beijing World Table Tennis Championships, Montague said in an interview: "The achievements of Chinese athletes did not surprise us; the fairness of chinese spectators and referees was also what we expected; and the proper organization work, I have long known that there will be no shortage." We are deeply touched by the enthusiasm that your great people have given us in this sport. ”
In 1961, the Chinese team won the men's team championship for the first time at the 26th World Table Tennis Championships. From left: Li Furong, Fu Qifang (coach), Xu Yinsheng, Wang Chuanyao, Zhuang Zedong, Rong Guotuan, Zhang Junhan (team leader), Jiang Yongning (coach). Courtesy of the ITTF Museum
Kissinger and Xu Yinsheng Courtesy of the Itttennis Federation Museum
Sports make people strive,
Let everyone become a better version of themselves in the team
Shangguan Reporter: You joined the Shanghai team in 1956 and represented the country for the first time in the 25th World Table Tennis Championships in 1959. Two years later, at the 26th World Table Tennis Championships, you became the main player. What's the "secret" behind growing up so fast?
Xu Yinsheng: The experience of competing again and again, there are losses and wins, and every time it is a grind for me. The first World Table Tennis Championships was in 1959 in Germany. Due to lack of ambition and lack of confidence, I did not dare to stand up for the team competition when it encountered difficulties, and I was eliminated without fighting spirit in individual competitions, and after the competition, I wrote oil poems to laugh at myself. Later, after the criticism and education of the leaders, coaches, and team members, and then compared themselves with the Rong Guotuan, realized the existing problems, I made up my mind to start over, start from small things, and strictly demand myself. The team leaders did not judge the hero with a single success or failure, but still let me follow the youth team to Romania and the Czech Republic, which made me undergo training.
Shangguan reporter: At the Beijing World Table Tennis Championships, you slammed japan's Hoshino Junya 12 big boards in the men's team final, a classic scene that has made many fans very excited.
Xu Yinsheng: The first generation of national player Wang Chuanyao once told us that Japanese players are good at putting golf balls on defense. This is a trick, but also a trick. They lure their opponents into rushing to achieve success and slamming hard, often affecting their psychology because of mistakes, and eventually leading to overall failure. So I'm more cautious and don't ask for a board to die. Only then will there be a scene of 12 consecutive boards. Hoshino's only hope is to wait for me to make a mistake. These 12 large boards, people who play hard, people who watch it are addictive.
Xu Yinsheng's backhand attack moment in the game. Courtesy of the ITTF Museum
Shangguan reporter: You have witnessed the formation and development of the excellent tradition of the Chinese table tennis team along the way, what do you feel most deeply?
Xu Yinsheng: Since its establishment in the early 1950s, the Chinese table tennis team has attached great importance to ideological education and asked everyone to bravely climb the peak of the world and win glory for the motherland. During the preparation for the Beijing World Table Tennis Championships, it was required to train troops at home and unanimously to the outside world. Learn from the People's Liberation Army, proceed from difficulty, strictness, and actual combat in the training process, adhere to large-scale exercise training, and learn from the Chinese mountaineering team the spirit of climbing Mount Everest that is "unattainable and indestructible" from the Chinese mountaineering team.
I think our hearts of unity and hard work for our country are the same. Sports make people strive and make everyone a better version of themselves in the team.
One of the things I remember most when I was an athlete was cracking the "secret weapon" of the Japanese team.
Just three months before the opening of the Beijing World Table Tennis Championships, we heard from the Hungarian players that the Japanese players invented a "secret weapon" with strong attack power——— arc-shaped spinning ball. Soon, Japan's table tennis magazine also introduced this new technology, and said that the Japanese team will use this "secret weapon" to dominate the world table tennis world again.
This trend has attracted great attention from the Chinese table tennis community. But the biggest problem is that no one has ever seen the arc ball, and it is imperative to figure out what kind of technology the arc ball is before we can find a way to deal with it.
Soon, the Japanese team came to Hong Kong to visit the game, and we immediately sent the coach to scout. While analyzing and researching, the training team asked several athletes to imitate the experiment. At first, I imitated it, and it didn't look like how to pull it. Changed the shape of the beat and pulled again, only to slowly touch a little doorway. It turns out that the force of this forehand pull ball is different from the usual, and the force is sudden, so that the ball produces a very strong upward rotation. When the opponent receives the ball, it is difficult to press down, and it is uncontrollable to cause the bounce out of the high ball or directly out of bounds.
The leaders of the National Sports Commission guided us to analyze the "secret weapons" of the Japanese team and told us about the dialectical relationship of "strategic contempt and tactical attention". Summarize three requirements: first, not afraid; second, take it seriously; third, prepare for the worst, give full play to your strengths, and strive for the best results.
At this time, there are only a few months left before the opening of the World Table Tennis Championships. First of all, someone must be used as an opposite——— commonly known as "target" to help practice. At this critical juncture, Xue Weichu, Hu Bingquan and other veteran players stepped forward and said that for the honor of the motherland, they would rather give up participating in the World Table Tennis Championships, but also learn arc ball and help the main team members to do adaptive training. It was this feat of being a paving stone and an unsung hero that touched the whole team. After that, a group of young players such as Liao Wenting, Wu Xiaoming, and Yu Changchun also resolutely joined the ranks of pulling arc circle balls and being willing to be sparring.
As a result, the training team set off a wave of hard practice arc ball and dealing with arc circle ball.
I was surprised the first time I picked up the arc ball. Because the upward rotation of the incoming ball was too strong, my clap shape could not be controlled, and the ball suddenly jumped high and far out of bounds. Not the usual far away, but flying out of the baffle. If you encounter this kind of ball for the first time in a game, you will not only make mistakes continuously, but you will also be greatly threatened psychologically.
As a result, the Arc Ball players made in China, practicing with the main players every day, really achieved "key guarantees, on call", these "unsung heroes" are very hard, and our main players take turns to practice with them. The arc pulling circle is large, and each plate needs to use a lot of force, and the arms are swollen. We had only just sweated for half an hour, but they were already soaking wet; we changed the angle slightly, but they were running around, exhausted and panting. Sometimes we see them tired enough to choke, and when they practice, they don't have the good sense to let go of the fight. As soon as they saw our men being merciful, they took the initiative to remind us: "Don't take care of me, you don't play now, and you will be in trouble when you officially play in the future." "Those who play and those who do not play work together for the honor of the motherland." After a period of targeted training, the ability of the main players to deal with the arc ball has improved and their confidence has been enhanced.
In the final result of the competition, the Chinese team finally defeated the Japanese team and won the men's team championship for the first time. In this victory, the "unsung heroes" are indispensable. People praised them as the ones who were ahead of the world champions. Yu Changchun, one of the sparring team members, once defeated foreign strong players in the World Table Tennis Championships to enter the top eight, and met with his own team members; Diao Wenyuan also entered the main team of the team at the age of 36, achieving good results against strong teams such as Hungary, and the unsung hero also became a famous hero.
To this day, this good tradition is still preserved in the table tennis team. Before each major competition, there are some players who play similar to foreign opponents and will help the main players to conduct targeted training. Wang Liqin and Ma Lin had just retired from the army and went back to help the team members participating in the Olympic games train. Because they are not athletes, they cannot live in the Olympic Village, and even if life and training are inconvenient, they still do their best.
Reform is really difficult and risky, but someone has to take care of it
Shangguan Reporter: After retiring from your status as an athlete, you seem to have the courage to reform whether you are a national team coach or the president of the International Table Tennis Federation.
No matter in which position, Xu Yinsheng is doing his best for the development of table tennis. Courtesy photo: Italté Sport Museum, Shangguan Profile Picture
Xu Yinsheng: In the 28th World Table Tennis Championships in 1965, I did not lose to a foreign player in a singles, and I met with my teammates; I won all the doubles events, and I hugged back the doubles championship trophy in the shape of a wine jar with Zhuang Zedong, and when I came back, I retired and entered the national team coaching staff.
At that time, it was a difficult period for the traditional Chinese direct shot near Taiwan fast attack method. After more than ten years of hard work, European players have finally developed a set of offensive playing styles suitable for their own horizontal grip rackets. They have combined Japan's spinning arc ball with China's direct-shot fast attack speed, and have made leaps and bounds, with the strength to compete against the asian powerhouses. At the 31st Nagoya World Table Tennis Championships, the Chinese men's team walked through the thin ice and regained the team championship, but the men's singles championship was taken away by Swedish novice Ben Gersen.
Compared with the progress of European players, the traditional continental direct shooting style has exposed many weaknesses, and the advantages are no longer there. My view is that any way of playing, it can be in the lead for a period of time, but if it does not progress and does not develop, it will fall behind or even be eliminated. China's traditional straight-pat method is no exception, which is not subject to people's will.
I think that China's direct shooting fast attack should add a "turn" word to the technical elements of "fast and accurate change", that is, to learn to master the advanced attack technology of arc ball and enrich the connotation of fast attack.
It seems to be a simple addition of the word "turn", but there are many difficulties and resistances to do it. In addition to changing people's traditional concepts, it is also necessary to switch to a racket and replace the front sponge glue with anti-paste sponge glue. The difference between the two rubbers is very large, and it is impossible to pull out a strongly rotating arc ball without changing the sponge glue. If you want to change, it may be difficult to adapt, affect the results of the game, and make it difficult to play chickens and eggs.
Relieved, Xi Enting of the men's team bravely stood up as the first person to eat crabs.
He was already the third place winner in the World Series singles, in order to break a road, he would rather take the risk and decisively change into anti-paste sponge glue, after more than a year of hard work, at the 32nd World Championships held in Yugoslavia, he won the singles championship, and he also became a "model" for the reform of the straight board fast attack method.
Xu Yinsheng attended the wedding of Wang Hao and Yan Boya. Xinhua News Agency photo
Shangguan Reporter: When you were the president of the International Table Tennis Federation, you also continued the tiger and tiger anger on the field and actively promoted reforms, such as proposing the "small ball to big ball" plan.
Xu Yinsheng: Shortly after the end of the Tianjin World Table Tennis Championships, the then president of the International Table Tennis Federation, Hamalund, died of illness. According to the constitution of the ITTF, I will take over as the chairman in the capacity of first vice president. It was in this situation that I was pushed to the position of president of the ITTF.
At that time, as the table tennis technique continued to improve, the speed increased, the rotation strengthened, the rounds in the game were relatively reduced, and the ornamentality would become worse and worse. For the continued development of table tennis, reform is imperative. Hagimura, who was the chairman of the Table Tennis Federation, also said that if the average ball in the game can play seven or eight times, and then there are some particularly wonderful good balls, table tennis will look good.
In the past, when I was an athlete and coach, I only thought that it was best to win the opponent on one board, and I didn't think about whether the game was good or not. Now that I'm in this position, I have to think about how table tennis can improve the ornamentation, attract more spectators, and become one of the most popular sports in the Olympic Games.
How to change it specifically, there are different opinions, and there are various kinds. Some say that the net is raised, the table is increased, and some even say that the anti-paste sponge racket is canceled, the rotation is weak, and there are more back and forth... At that time, there was a 44 mm large table tennis table in Japan, which was more popular among middle-aged and elderly table tennis enthusiasts, because of its large size, slow speed and less rotation, so there were more rounds. I've also experienced firsthand that even with full strength to attack, it is not easy to score, and after a game, I play sweaty. I was inspired by this: if you increase the 38 mm ball at that time, you can reduce the speed and rotation. This change is fine-tuned, easy to adapt, and the impact on athletes is not too large, and should be easy to accept. After this suggestion was put forward, it was also affirmed by everyone.
Shangguan reporter: Let this adjustment finally "land", what are the stories behind the scenes?
Xu Yinsheng: Changing the big ball needs to get support from many parties. After the ATTF meeting of the Atlanta Olympic Games, I called Shanghai Hongshuangxi boss Lou Shihe and asked if he could make a 40mm ball first and let the athletes try it out as a sample.
You know, making a big ball is not so easy, you have to open the mold first, and then process it, which is laborious and expensive. As the CEO of a business, I have to consider these issues. But Mr. Lou was quick to show support. They said that as long as it is the proposal of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, for the development of table tennis, Hongshuangxi will definitely go all out. I was deeply moved.
Hongshuangxi quickly made a new 40 mm ball, and the Chinese Table Tennis Association sent the ball to the International Table Tennis Federation and many associations for them to try. Then the Chinese Table Tennis Association held a big ball invitational tournament in Suzhou, and Samsonov of Belarus was invited to play with Ma Lin and other Chinese and foreign players. The news media contributed to the situation, with researchers conducting on-site tests and interviewing viewers and parties to see how they reacted to the use of the big ball.
From the scene, the big ball does increase the number of game rounds, there are many wonderful balls, and the feedback from all aspects is good. Soon the scientific research also had preliminary results, saying that compared with the small ball, the speed of the big ball decreased, the rotation weakened, and there were statistical calculations. Later, the Europeans also held a big ball invitational tournament in Denmark. Through two activities, big balls were basically recognized. As my term as it expired as president of the ITTF, this reform was continued by the new president, Sharala, a Canadian. He summed up the data from all sides, reported to everyone by video at the congress, and finally passed the decision to officially start using the big ball at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships in Chiba, Japan.
Shangguan reporter: In this process, we have encountered many obstacles, right?
Xu Yinsheng: Reform is really difficult and there will be risks, but someone must always take responsibility.
As far as the sports team is concerned, they are reluctant to change, for fear of affecting the results. Some foreign equipment manufacturers are also ambiguous about this, and some say that the investment in replacing the production line is an astronomical number and unbearable. Some people say that if you change the big ball, what if the original inventory of a large number of small balls cannot be sold. In order to take into account the interests of manufacturers, the International Table Tennis Federation has given the buffer time of nearly two years, and small balls are still allowed in international youth competitions and private competitions.
In addition, the raw material of table tennis, from celluloid to plastic, avoids defects such as flammability and inconvenient transportation, and the speed and rotation are also weakened. Therefore, in the game, the rounds have been greatly increased, the ornamentation has been enhanced, and it has been well received by all sides. Now it seems that the reform of turning small balls into large balls has been successful.
In 2018, together with other national football elders, he made a cameo appearance in the TV series "Winning Gold", which tells the story of the struggle of generations of table tennis people. Xu Yinsheng said that if he can publicize table tennis more, he wants to do his best. Xinhua News Agency photo
Journalist's Note
The old gentleman in front of him, dressed in a striped sweater, with gray hair, a round face, smiled and bent his eyes the same as he did then.
After retirement, Xu Yinsheng is still very busy, and he can often be seen at the scene of mass table tennis activities.
"I've been playing around ping-pong all my life, and I really like it." He said, "Now, participate in mass sports activities, walk more, be happy yourself, and also contribute to the promotion of table tennis." ”
Every time he participates in table tennis activities, Xu Yinsheng is very happy. He told reporters that what impressed him most was that many fans loved the sport from the bottom of their hearts. Regardless of gender, industry and age, everyone swings on the same stage, the atmosphere is harmonious, talking and laughing, sometimes playing a good ball, dancing happily, and of course, regretting a mistake.
These table tennis enthusiasts have a variety of playing styles, a variety of skills, each with its own magic, in the game you fight for me, the ball path is tricky, do whatever you want, and even play a nearly disappearing straight-forward backhand attack; some will also use fake action sounds to hit the west. The unique "straight-and-shoot horizontal play" of mainland table tennis, a technique that even foreign players dare not try to learn, but they have no teacher and are flexible and free to use.
"Seeing this reminds me of the 'wild ball' scene when I was a child." Xu Yinsheng deeply feels that today's children play too formally, cookie-cutter, lack personality and creativity: "They should really be allowed to communicate and interact with amateur fans frequently, and have some understanding and inspiration." Competitive sports, only rooted in the soil of mass sports, can we continue to innovate and add more vitality. ”
Although he is old, this "table tennis wisdom star" is still willing to accept new things and has given a lot of ideas to the mass table tennis activities in Shanghai. During the epidemic, he bought a set of simple table tennis players from the Internet and played at home, and many people also bought them to practice after seeing it.
Xu Yinsheng feels that mass sports are very interesting, you can do a little more tricks, the Shanghai Table Tennis Association has done a very good job in this regard, but also held a sand table tennis competition, mobile phone table tennis (a rubber band on the mobile phone for the ball board) competition, very popular.
People · Xu Yinsheng
Born in Shanghai in 1938, he is known as the "wisdom of table tennis", witnessing the "ping-pong diplomacy" that promotes the "ice-breaking" of Sino-US relations. He was the deputy director of the National Sports Commission, the chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, and the president of the International Table Tennis Federation.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Gong Danyun Text Editor: Peng Deqian
Source: Author: Peng Deqian