On February 25, Beijing time, the International Table Tennis Federation officially announced that the 2022 Chengdu World Table Tennis Championships will be postponed for 5 months. Although the previous relevant rumors have long been circulated in the circle, this news still surprised many fans, after all, the 2020 Busan World Table Tennis Championships have also staged a similar plot, and the result was completely cancelled.
However, I do not intend to discuss the question of whether the game will start as scheduled at the end of September, but analyze another question from the fans, that is, -
What impact will the postponement of the World Table Tennis Championships have on the Chinese team?
As we all know, in the preparation list of national table tennis, the World Table Tennis Championships is second only to the existence of the Olympic Games, and the Table Tennis Association and the coaching staff will generally start related planning about half a year in advance, especially the selection of participating athletes is the most important. Now that the World Table Tennis Championships have been changed from the first half of the year to the second half of the year, what impact will it have on the national table tennis?
Let's analyze it.
I. The "blessing" of the newcomer, the "curse" of the veteran
Obviously, the postponement of any World Series is a "blessing" for newcomers and a "pain" for veterans – this is the case with the Olympic Games, and the World Table Tennis Championships are no exception.
As we all know, if the Tokyo Olympics are held normally in 2020, the possibility of Liu Shiwen, the singles champion of the Xinke World Table Tennis Championships, is very likely, and Ding Ning may not be able to participate in the team. However, after the game was postponed for a year, Ding Ning completely bid farewell to the field, Liu Shiwen failed to usher in her first Olympic singles ticket in her life, and Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha seized the opportunity to rise.
As Liu Guoliang later said: "In the previous Olympic Games, how many world champions were needed to participate in singles, but in this special Olympic Games, they seized the opportunity." "So the postponement of the competition will inevitably create more opportunities for young people to rise."
The reason is very simple, the veterans are seriously injured and have reached the late stage of their careers, so they are originally in a "race against time", the more time they wait, their advantages will decline more and more; and the young players are rich and powerful, lacking experience, so the more they go on, they can become more and more mature, and the strength will naturally become stronger and stronger.
After the Tokyo Olympic Games, the national table tennis accelerated the replacement speed of the new and old in the team, and Ma Long, Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen also took the initiative to give up the competition in the Houston World Table Tennis Championships and the WTT World Cup final. However, from the actual effect, the stability of young players still needs to be improved, especially the echelon construction of the men's team is still very uneasy, losing the championship in doubles, experiencing several vicious battles in singles and losing.
Judging from the situation of the WTT Macau Tournament at the beginning of this year, it is difficult for the young players of the women's team to say that they can stabilize Liu Shiwen, so it is not excluded that the coaching team still has the possibility of using some of the three veterans to play in the team World Table Tennis Championships.
But now that the competition has been postponed for up to 5 months, the advantages of the veterans will be weakened more and more, and the young players will get more and more opportunities to precipitate, coupled with the fact that there are still a large number of international events to participate in in the recent period, the experience of the young players will accumulate more and more, the pattern of the replacement of the old and the new will naturally be more stable, and the process of the seniors withdrawing from the historical stage will naturally accelerate.
Second, the pressure on the coaching staff is reduced, and there is room for selection
Although the World Table Tennis Championships were postponed, we will find that the recent national table tennis has the opportunity to fight in practice.
Among other things, in March 2022 alone, the national table tennis will at least participate in the WTT Oman, WTT Qatar Regional Championships, WTT Grand Slams, and may also play in the WTT Qatar Star Challenge. In the planning of the Table Tennis Federation, there will be more and more such events.
Since the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, the table tennis world has not been so lively for a long time, and the results of so many foreign wars will certainly provide a part of the reference for the selection of the World Table Tennis Championships of the national table tennis coaching team, after all, the World Table Tennis Championships are also foreign wars.
As mentioned earlier, after the Olympic Games, the coaching team accelerated the pace of the replacement of new and old in the team, but due to the impact of the epidemic, young players have very few opportunities to fight abroad in recent years - most of the good opportunities have been given to the Olympic main players, even Liang Jingkun and other world champion main forces have not actually received much exercise, let alone other players.
If the World Table Tennis Championships are held in April, everything will seem rushed, and after a series of foreign battles in March, it may not be too late to digest and summarize, and then it will definitely arrange the selection of the team, and then it will be on the battlefield. But now that the game has been adjusted to the end of September, the coaching staff can more calmly analyze the athletes' recent gains and losses, and then make more rational decisions.
Third, prepare for battle more calmly and study the new dynamics of the opponent
Obviously, the postponement of the game time will increase the time for athletes to study each other's opponents, which would otherwise be mutual. However, as we all know, the reserve strength of the Chinese table tennis team is more sufficient, the research team is more powerful, and the longer the preparation time, the more it can occupy the initiative.
For example, several of our main opponents have recently been "the dragon has seen the beginning and not the end" - Ito Mimachi continued to "retreat" after the Houston World Table Tennis Championships, and has not played a game so far; the new singles runner-up Moreggaard has also given up many consecutive tournaments and has not appeared; and the veteran Pol's last fight with the national table tennis was also at the Houston World Table Tennis Championships.
Although the above athletes are very likely to play again with the national table tennis players at the WTT Grand Slam in March, but that is all, the sample studied is still too small - if you can play more than a few times, it will definitely be a good thing for the national table tennis players, but not necessarily for the players of the foreign association.
Especially in September, chengdu will be held before the World Table Tennis Championships in Hangzhou, because the time interval is very close, so the coaching staff can use this Asian competition as an advance training place for the world competition, at least it is of great significance to prevent the two major rivals of South Korea and Japan.
Note: South Koreans have always attached great importance to the Asian Games, so they will certainly do their best; the Japanese team has not valued this event very much before, but there are various indications that this situation may change, because they are changing their own Olympic selection mechanism, and the importance of Asian events has increased significantly.
In summary, the postponement of the Chengdu World Table Tennis Championships is generally a more favorable thing for the national table tennis, but the "living space" of the veterans may be further compressed, and perhaps in the future, it will be really difficult for us to see Ma Long, Xu Xin, liu Shiwen return to the stage of the World Series, and this is also the cruelty of competitive sports.
So what athletes are you optimistic about sending to the Chengdu World Table Tennis Championships? Which teams do you think pose a greater threat to us? Welcome to leave a message and participate in the discussion together!