The new season of national table tennis has begun, and on February 24, some members of the national table tennis team have set off for Oman to participate in the WTT regular challenge muscat station. Although the main players of national table tennis participated in this competition, the young players are also eager to play well in this competition. Also on February 24, the Table Tennis Federation officially announced that after consultation with the Chinese Table Tennis Association, the Team World Table Tennis Championships will be postponed to September 30 to October 9 this year. Obviously, Liu Guoliang's opinion played a key role. In the current epidemic situation, the postponement of the competition is also a helpless choice, and the national table tennis is really too difficult.
Since the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, postponement or cancellation of events has become the norm. Whether it is the Olympic Games, the World Table Tennis Championships, the World Cup, postponement has become a common thing. Last year's World Table Tennis Championships in Houston was postponed, and the individual world table tennis tournaments that were supposed to be held before the Olympic Games were forced to be postponed after the Olympic Games. Because of this, the national table tennis adjusted the lineup, Ma Long, Xu Xin, Liu Shiwen and other veterans got the opportunity to rest, and Fan Zhendong, Wang Manyu and other young players also ushered in their own breakthroughs at the Houston World Table Tennis Championships.
The 2022 Team World Table Tennis Championships was scheduled to be held in Chengdu in April, which was less than two months away. Everyone is discussing who the national table tennis will send to participate in the team world table tennis championships held in China. From the perspective of overall strength, the suspense of the national table tennis winning the championship of the men's and women's teams is not large, but in the end who can participate, the meaning of which is still very different. After all, this is the first team competition in the new Olympic cycle, from which we can see the new changes in the main structure of national table tennis. For example, what kind of roles do veterans such as Ma Long, Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen play, and can Players such as Zhou Qihao, Wang Yidi and Chen Xing get a quota?
However, on February 24, the Table Tennis Federation officially issued a notice that after consultations with the Chinese Table Tennis Association and Chengdu, the team world table tennis championships were postponed to September 30 to October 9. In the current epidemic situation, such an extension is also very helpless, but it is a wise choice. The Table Tennis Federation did not make a decision unilaterally, but the result of close discussions with the Chinese Table Tennis Association, and it is clear that the opinion of the China Table Tennis Association, chaired by Liu Guoliang, played a key role in the decision to postpone. Compared with the competition, the health of the athletes is always the first, which is also the key to Liu Guoliang's consideration.
Although the tournament has been postponed, the discussion of the roster will not stop. For example, can veteran Liu Shiwen appear in the lineup of the women's group? At last year's Olympic Games, Liu Shiwen finally withdrew from the team competition due to injury, and Wang Manyu, Chen Meng, and Sun Yingsha joined forces to win the gold medal for the women's team for the national table tennis. At the Houston World Table Tennis Championships, the women's singles team composed of Chen Meng, Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, Wang Yidi and Chen Xingtong also played well. It seems that without Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen, the impact on the national table tennis women's team is not large. In this case, can Liu Shiwen still participate in the team World Table Tennis Championships?
One of the points that have to be considered here is the age problem, the team world table tennis championships have been postponed for nearly half a year, for Liu Shiwen, which means that she is half a year older. Trying to stay in good shape is not easy for a 31-year-old veteran. The postponement of the team world table tennis championships is a helpless news for Xiao Ju, and she has to work harder!