In three days, the WTT Oman Challenge will take place. This is the second international event in which the national table tennis team took part in this year after participating in the WTT Macau Championships before the Spring Festival. The specific competition period is from February 27 to March 1 of the qualifying round, and march 2 to 5 of the main tournament.
There are five events in this event, namely men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles. The national table tennis attaches great importance to this event and will send 27 players to participate.
The specific list is as follows:
From this list, it can be seen that in addition to Fan Zhendong, Ma Long, Xu Xin, Chen Meng, Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, Wang Yidi and Liu Shiwen and other 8 people did not participate, other high-level players in China have come to participate. The eight players, together with Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan, Wang Chuqin and Chen Xingtong, will participate in the WTT Grand Slam in Singapore from March 7. This is a big test for the next four people, and physical strength will be a big problem. After they finished participating in the WTT Oman Challenge, it was already March 5, and the Singapore WTT Grand Slam began on March 7. The four will be busy rushing to the field, hoping that the young players will be able to hold on to their bodies.
Judging from this list, the national table tennis still attaches great importance to this event. In addition to the 8 strongest players who did not come, these participants were all domestic players with high strength.
The performance of several players will be worth paying attention to. Like the women's table tennis player Kuman, she has to participate in three competitions. The 18-year-old Kuman is chubby, looks very thick-looking, and is still very sharp when playing. At the World Youth Championships in Portugal last December, Kuman won the women's singles, women's doubles titles, and mixed doubles runners-up.
At the WTT Macau Championship, Kuman and Fan Zhendong paired mixed doubles for the first time and advanced to the final. Only lost to the veteran combination of Xu Xin /Liu Shiwen in the final, and missed the first mixed doubles gold medal. This time, Kuman not only participated in the women's singles competition, but also paired with Zhang Rui in women's doubles, and paired with world champion Liang Jingkun in mixed doubles. Perhaps the national table tennis coaching staff took a fancy to Ku man's doubles ability and intended to let her participate in more doubles matches.
There are also three people in the national table tennis to participate in three competitions, namely "big fat" Liang Jingkun, "big head" Wang Chuqin, and "tongtong" Chen Xingtong. And the three of them also have to participate in the WTT Singapore Grand Slam.
There are two mixed doubles pairs in the WTT Oman Challenge, so there are 4 people to participate in three events. Physical strength is a real problem for players going to both tournaments. Wang Chuqin, in particular, also participated in three at the WTT Grand Slam. I really don't know if the big head can be carried by physical strength.
The women's singles team was led by "Tongtong" Chen Xingtong. It is hoped that Chen Xingtong will lead the women's table tennis players to achieve good results. As one of the "Three Little Devil Kings", Chen Xingtong has fallen behind Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu. If you want to be valued by the national table tennis coaching team, Chen Xingtong must find a way to achieve good results. Otherwise, there are high-level players such as Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng, Wang Manyu, Wang Yidi in the front, and young players such as Ku Man, Liu Weishan, and Qian Tianyi in the back, leaving chen Xingtong with less and less space. The coaching staff let Chen Xingtong participate in the WTT Oman Challenge and the WTT Singapore Grand Slam in succession, just to give her a little more opportunities to compete, in order to prove herself. If Chen Xingtong cannot seize such a good opportunity, it is estimated that it will be difficult to get ahead in the future. Chen Xingtong also had to work hard.
Lin Shidong, a 16-year-old young player, has also become the focus of the coaching team. Lin Shidong is still young, and participates in few international competitions, and there are even fewer competitions in the adult group. He participated in last month's WTT Macau China Star, which is also considered an international competition in the senior category. However, there were fewer members of the association outside the competition. This time, he was fortunate to be promoted by the coaching staff to participate in the Oman Challenge, and he also participated as a seed, which helped him grow a lot.
Lin Shidong, who is known as "Little Fat", although he is very young, has shown great strength. He has played against Fan Zhendong and does not see a big gap. Although he lost in the end, Lin Shidong lost not ugly. He dares to fight, the ball style is strong and powerful, dares to pull hard with the opponent, and will have a fight with Fan Zhendong in the future.
In the men's singles group stage of the "Straight through WTT Grand Slam" World Table Tennis Championships and Olympic Simulation Tournament held in May 2021, Lin Shidong defeated Xu Xin 3-2. In last month's WTT Macau Championship men's singles quarterfinals, Lin Shidong lost 2-3 to Lin Gaoyuan and missed the final four. Lin Shidong caused trouble for Lin Gaoyuan and almost won the game. Lin Shidong's future development will be very good.
This WTT Oman Challenge has points and prize money. The prize money for the singles champion is $30,000, or 190,000 yuan. The bonus amount is still very good. The doubles champion prize money is $6,000 and the mixed doubles champion is $3,000. I have not quite understood why the bonus in doubles is so much less than in singles. Especially the mixed doubles have entered the Olympic Games, and the prize money is so low.
The singles champion has 400 points, the runner-up has 280 points, the final four also has 140 points, and the quarterfinals have only 70 points. The doubles champion has 400 points, the runner-up 280 points, the semifinals 140 points and the quarterfinals 70 points. Mixed Doubles points are 400 points, runners-up 280 points and Semifinals 140 points. The point distribution scheme for singles and doubles is the same, and the bonus is different. I really can't understand the operation of the International Table Tennis Federation.
There are 3 days left before the WTT Oman Challenge, and I look forward to the wonderful performance of the national table tennis players. In particular, I hope that Liang Jingkun and Chen Xingtong can lead the team to play at a high level, and look forward to the outbreak of young generals Lin Shidong and Ku Man, and also look forward to Chen Xingtong to prove themselves, and Wang Chuqin to distribute physical strength reasonably.