On March 17, the WTT Singapore Grand Slam competed for the men's singles quarterfinals, and the national table tennis successor Liang Jingkun swept Sweden's Karlsson 3-0 to advance to the final four. Liang Jingkun is also the first player of the national table tennis men's team to advance to the final four, as the men's singles champion of Oman, Liang Jingkun is now sprinting towards another championship. The rise of Liang Jingkun has also broken the pattern of the national table tennis men's team, and the original situation of Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin has now changed. Liang Jingkun can be said to have taken Xu Xin's place, and the python can only accept the harsh reality.
At last year's Olympic Games, Liu Guoliang and Qin Zhijian unsurprisingly lined up Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin. Among them, Ma Long and Fan Zhendong will meet in the men's singles final, and Xu Xin participated in the team and mixed doubles competition, getting 1 gold and 1 silver. Such a platoon deployment can be said to be unexpected by everyone, after all, Xu Xin's singles ability and compared with Ma Long and Fan Zhendong are lacking, even compared with Liang Jingkun and Wang Chuqin, they do not necessarily have an advantage. But Xu Xin's strength lies in his excellent doubles ability, which allowed him to be shortlisted for the Olympic list, and eventually joined forces with Ma Long and Fan Zhendong to win the men's team championship.
However, after entering this year, Xu Xin's singles ability seems to have further declined. In the men's singles quarter-finals, Xu Xin lost to Francesca and missed the quarterfinals. As he grew older, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Xu Xin to make a difference in the singles arena. If in the past two years, Monta python still hopes to compete with Ma Long and Fan Zhendong for the Olympic singles quota, Xu Xin may have to face more competition with Liang Jingkun and Wang Chuqin. Whether from the age or the current state, Xu Xin is at a disadvantage in this competition.
In the men's singles quarterfinals, facing Sweden's Karlsson, Liang Jingkun showed a very strong momentum, losing 3 straight sets to defeat his opponent to advance to the final four. Liang Jingkun is also the first national table tennis player to advance to the final four of the Grand Slam men's singles, and he has the opportunity to attack the championship. In the previous Oman competition, Liang Jingkun defeated Lin Gaoyuan to win the men's singles championship. Now that the level of the competition is higher, Liang Jingkun still has the opportunity to stand on the highest podium. It can be said that today's big fat is more mature and stable than before, and his rise has given Liu Guoliang and Qin Zhijian more choices.
Liang Jingkun's strong rise has broken the original pattern of the national table tennis men's team, and now he ranks 5th in the world, second only to Fan Zhendong and Ma Long in the national table tennis, higher than Lin Gaoyuan who ranked 8th, Xu Xin who ranked 10th and Wang Chuqin who ranked 13th. This ranking can basically reflect the strength of today's national table tennis men's team, and Da Fat won the third place in the men's singles of the World Table Tennis Championships and the men's singles bronze medal of the National Games last year, and proved his strength in domestic and foreign competitions. This time in Singapore. Liang Jingkun is again in the men's singles semifinals, and he has proved that he can steadily reach the final four of the World Series.
Such a stable singles performance, in the national table tennis, only Ma Long and Fan Zhendong can do better. It can be said that liang Jingkun is now the third men's singles main force of national table tennis after Ma Long and Fan Zhendong. Of course, he still has to face competition from Wang Chuqin, but Datou still needs to grow further. As for the veteran Xu Xin, he may have had to accept the fact that he fell out of the top three of the national table tennis.