Because in the Singapore WTT Grand Slam, veteran Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen, as players who have participated in two Olympic Games, lost in the 16-8 knockout match in the men's and women's singles respectively, and Xu Xin still lost the foreign war. Therefore, many fans take this to put forward a point of view, that is, it does not make much sense for veterans to stick to it. More opportunities should be left to young players and then take the initiative to retreat, thinking that this is called following the trend of table tennis development. Of course, because of the mention of Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen, fans also included Ma Long in the scope of players who need to leave the national table tennis team, that is, basically think that these three veterans, the need to stick to it is very small. However, I believe that attentive fans, including myself, will still have different views. Because Ma Long and Xu Xin, as well as Liu Shiwen, although they are veterans who have participated in many Olympic Games, their positions and roles in the national table tennis team are still different. This distinction and the impact on the entire team also determines how different their future direction will be.
For example, why, among these three players, after returning from the Tokyo Olympics, only Ma Long dared to raise it in public, and he still had the hope and expectation of wanting to compete in the Paris Olympic Games, while Liu Shiwen and Xu Xin did not make such a statement? It is also their own role positioning that is different. Comparatively speaking, Ma Long still has a certain competitive initiative in the competition of the national table tennis men's team, or it can be said that the team's need for him exceeds xu Xin and Liu Shiwen's current position.
First, Malone competed in three Olympic Games, played two Olympic singles games, and won the men's singles championship in both singles, becoming the first successful defender of the men's singles in table tennis in history. Judging from the history he has created, and becoming the first person in history, we can feel that Malone's position in the entire team is difficult to be completely surpassed in a short period of time. Including Fan Zhendong as the new brother of the national table tennis, but also the world's number one role, he does not dare to guarantee that he can have a 100% winning rate every time he plays against Ma Long, and the inhibition and anti-suppression between each other has always occurred, and it is normal for two people to win whoever wins. And such strength does not exist in Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen at present.
The second aspect is that the new generation of the national table tennis men's team is actually strengthening, including the coaching team continues to create opportunities for Wang Chuqin, Liang Jingkun, Lin Gaoyuan, Zhou Qihao, Liu Dingshuo and other players, the younger Xiang Peng and Lin Shidong have also increased their training efforts, including this Grand Slam tournament, Lin Shidong also directly qualified for the main tournament, and some other national table tennis players also participated in other WTT events at the same time, which is a positive signal that the national table tennis coaching team pays more attention to the replacement of new and old players and the cultivation of young players. But in the process of this kind of development, the growth of young players, including the stability of players who have risen to the middle generation, is still a major obstacle to their progress to the Olympic arena. For example, Liang Jingkun and Wang Chuqin will have some ups and downs in performance and state, emotional impatience, and the ability to control the key points of the game will also restrict their future development, which is not a problem that can be solved in a hurry. Under the premise that Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha's mixed doubles achievements have a relatively large breakthrough, the strength of the doubles is also very strong, and the partner of Fan Zhendong is becoming more and more tacit, Liang Jingkun undoubtedly falls into the position of the third person in the competition. Then he and Ma Long will still have a head-on competition, and in the future, between the two people, I am afraid that one person will become a P card or miss the Olympic Games, while the other person will most likely become the third Olympic candidate in the national table tennis except for Ma Zhendong and Wang Chuqin. Looking at it now, others are a bit visibly pulled apart when it comes to competing.
The third aspect is to look at the entire world men's table tennis, the players of the foreign association, including some new generations with momentum and the mesozoic generation and veterans with obvious status improvement, especially some masters in Europe and the United States, as well as a group of young players in South Korea, Japan and Chinese Taipei, in the competition with Ma Long, although there are also victories, but in most of the games, as long as Ma Long himself does not make big mistakes, they are still difficult to shake Ma Long's status. However, when competing with Wang Chuqin or Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan, especially with Liang Jingkun and Lin Gaoyuan, they will still make mistakes occasionally, such as Liang Jingkun lost to Aruna some time ago, and Lin Gaoyuan lost to Lin Zhongxun.
Coupled with world-class masters, there are now not only one or twenty players, but even thirty or forty players may give Liang Jingkun and other national table tennis mesozoic generation a lot of competitive pressure, so the need for Ma Long of the national table tennis team still exists. At this WTT Grand Slam, Ma Long passed Wang Chuqin and Lin Yunru two levels, which is also a key reason why Ma Long has always been reluctant to retire, and he still wants to play his residual heat in the team and strive to enter the Paris Olympic team, and the national table tennis coaching team does not dare to give up Ma Long. In addition, the preparation cycle for this Olympic Games has become 3 years, and now that 1 year has passed, there are only 2 years left. After Malone was once plagued by injuries and got rid of injuries, he hopes that he can still create glory at the end of his career, so his expectations for the Paris Olympics have reached a higher level, and we also need to rationally look at Malone's decision to continue to accept the challenge and challenge himself.