Since the Tokyo Olympic cycle, "anti-Japanese resistance" has become the primary task of the Chinese table tennis team in the world championships. Although the Japanese team is eyeing the champion, it is still difficult to shake the hegemony of national table tennis. Entering the Time of the Paris Olympics, the "Anti-Japanese" campaign of national table tennis in the first Grand Slam event was another great victory.
On March 20, the WTT Singapore Grand Slam came to an end, and the Chinese team won five crowns. In the women's singles final on the closing day, Chen Meng fought hard in seven sets to defeat Wang Manyu 4-3 to win 2,000 points and qualify for the Asian Games singles. Subsequently, the men's singles final was played between the new and old brothers of national table tennis, Ma Long and Fan Zhendong, and after playing seven sets, Fan Zhendong won the championship with a narrow victory of 4-3.
Men's Singles
Malone is still a mountain for many people
The Singapore Grand Slam is the first Grand Slam tournament launched by the WTT World Table Tennis Federation since its inception. The men's and women's singles champions receive 2,000 world ranking points, the same as the Olympic Games and World Championships, with a total prize money of $2 million. The "double high" specifications with high points and high prize money have attracted the world's top players, the national table tennis full of the main force to participate, the Japanese team also sent all the main forces after the replacement.
In the men's singles competition, the "anti-Japanese" campaign took place in the semi-finals. After six rounds of fierce fighting, Fan Zhendong eliminated Japan's 20-year-old rising star Yukiya Una, who was also the only non-Chinese player in the final four, 4-2.
If Fan Zhendong, who is firmly at the top of the world, advances to the final is a routine operation, and Ma Long, who is re-emerging, is "accidental" to meet with him. "I never thought I would make it to the final. Three days ago, the WTT manager told me that if I won the championship, I would be interviewed in English. But I think tomorrow's game will be difficult, maybe I won't have a chance to be interviewed, so I'll just say it today. After advancing to the final, Malone could not hide his excitement and showed off his English.
Facing Fan Zhendong tonight, Malone calmly coped with three consecutive sets after falling behind 0-2. In the sixth set, he led 6-1. However, today's Fan Zhendong has full wings and has enough strength to complete the Jedi counterattack in adversity. In the end, Xiao Fat won the championship with an aggregate score of 4-3, and fired the first shot in the battle of "grabbing power".
Although Malone failed to hold on to the advantage under the counterattack of his master and disciple, through the test of grand slam events, Malone is still a mountain that many people are difficult to cross.
Since the men's singles summit of the 2015 Suzhou World Table Tennis Championships, Ma Long has gradually replaced Zhang Jike as the leader of national table tennis. In six years, under the continuous impact of Fan Zhendong, Lin Gaoyuan, Liang Jingkun, Wang Chuqin and others, he completed two rounds of grand slams. In particular, Fan Zhendong, who is more than 8 years younger than Ma Long, has played against Ma Long since the men's singles final of the 2013 National Games, losing more and winning less, until the men's singles final of the Tokyo Olympic Games.
After the Tokyo Olympics, Ma Long, who was married and had a child, gave up the competition for singles at the Shaanxi National Games and the Houston World Table Tennis Championships, and lived a quiet life with his family. Fan Zhendong quickly ascended the throne and ascended to the top as king.
After resting, Malone returned to the game. On the way to the WTT Singapore Grand Slam, he narrowly defeated the two post-00s rising stars Wang Chuqin and Lin Yunru 3-2, once again making the younger generation feel desperate. Facing the powerful Liang Jingkun, he was at ease, with a degree of progress and retreat, and completed the sweep 4-0.
Malone has previously said that he still wants to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Two years later, Malone, who has turned 36, will face even greater challenges if he continues to play.
Women's Singles
The new generation of "Great Demon Kings" is leading the battle between Chen Meng
Unlike the men's team, the national table tennis women's team has been upgraded. This year's Grand Slam women's singles competition, for Chen Meng, Wang Manyu, Sun Yingsha, who has taken over dingning and Liu Shiwen, and Wang Yidi, who has emerged in the new cycle, while shouldering the task of "anti-Japanese", it is also facing a "terrifying inner volume", and a new generation of "big devils" is fiercely competing.
Judging from the competition process, the main opponents of national table tennis, including the Japanese team, do not have a strong sense of existence and do not create too much trouble. In the quarter-finals, Chen Meng defeated Ishikawa Yoshijun 4-1, and also played 11-0 in the third set, Sun Yingsha beat Hina Hayata, and Wang Manyu and Wang Yidi eliminated Austria's Polkanova and "Overseas Corps" player Yuan Jiannan without suspense.
When the four helped the national table tennis lock up the women's singles championship in advance, the "inner volume" was staged. In the two semi-finals, both played seven rounds, "Little Devil" Sun Yingsha unfortunately lost to Wang Manyu, and Chen Mengze beat Wang Yidi.
The final was played between Wang Manyu and Chen Meng, and the process was full of ups and downs. In the first four sets, Chen Meng led 3-1. Forced to no way back, Wang Manyu chased two consecutive innings and dragged the game into the decider. In the end, Chen Meng, with a more stable play, defeated teammate Wang Manyu with a 3-point advantage, and while she lifted the first Grand Slam championship trophy, she also won the singles qualification for the Hangzhou Asian Games, Sun Yingsha also won the second singles place with the world ranking, although Wang Manyu won the silver medal, but due to the low world ranking, regrettably rubbed shoulders with the Asian Games singles qualification.
The national table tennis women's team has successively gone through the era of Deng Yaping, Wang Nan and Zhang Yining, and since then, Li Xiaoxia and Ding Ning have been equally divided. Today, in the competition of the new generation of "big devils", Chen Meng, who has been crowned the Olympic and Grand Slam singles champion, and Wang Manyu, the women's singles champion of the Xinke World Table Tennis Championships and the National Games, temporarily lead the way.
Sun Yingsha, who is masculine, confident and domineering, performed well in foreign wars, and fought her opponents without temper in the "anti-Japanese" war. Before the Tokyo Olympics, Zhang Yining strongly recommended Sun Yingsha: "Sun Yingsha is a very energetic team member who has emerged in recent years. Her playing style is outstanding, good at mastering her own rhythm in the game, not flustered, and her mentality is very good, which cannot be copied. However, this "little devil" who is brave in foreign wars has always become the "champion background board" of his teammates in the world series, and if he wants to win the battle of the "big devil", Sun Yingsha also needs a world series singles champion with full gold content.
doubles
Winning the championship made the Japanese team desperate
Compared with singles, the Japanese team has high hopes for a doubles victory in the World Series. However, in the Singapore War, the national table tennis took the lead in winning the championship in mixed doubles, and then successfully "anti-Japanese" in the women's doubles and men's doubles finals, winning two crowns.
At the Tokyo Olympics, the Japanese team broke the monopoly of the national table tennis championship in the mixed doubles event. In this mixed doubles, the national table tennis sent the Houston World Table Tennis Championships champion group Wang Chuqin / Sun Yingsha, representing the Japanese team is the new cycle of key training of the combination Zhang Benzhi and / Hayata Xina, they are also the Houston World Table Tennis Championships mixed doubles runner-up. Coming to the WTT Grand Slam arena, when Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha soared, Zhang Benzhi and/Hina Hayata lost to Hong Kong's Huang Zhenting/Du Kaixuan in the quarterfinals. In the end, the "Shatou Combination" won the first Grand Slam championship for the national table tennis.
The mixed doubles showdown between China and Japan was staged in the men's doubles final. As the men's doubles pairing that the national table tennis focuses on creating in the new cycle, Fan Zhendong / Wang Chuqin swept away the haze of the Houston World Table Tennis Championships and did not qualify for the semi-finals, and will advance to the final to meet the Houston World Table Tennis Championships men's doubles bronze medalist and Japanese "post-00" combination Yukiya Utada / Toue Hayabusa. In the end, Fan Zhendong / Wang Chuqin, who did not have a long time as a partner, won 3-1 with strong strength and won the second crown for the national table tennis.
Mixed doubles, men's doubles folding, the Japanese team can only expect Ito Mimachi / Hayata Hina to create a miracle in the women's doubles. After all, when he was asleep, his mother said in his ear that "only you can beat the Chinese team", Ito Mimakoto won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. However, the national table tennis, which has always been full of combat effectiveness, will not make the same mistake, Wang Manyu / Sun Yingsha won the championship against the opponent, and in three games, the Japanese combination was completely confused, only 13 points.
Playing in Singapore, the national table tennis once again showed full combat effectiveness and unshakable strength. When the World Series comes, as Malone said bluntly, you can always trust the Chinese table tennis team!
Text/Marle
Photo: Xinhua News Agency