Although the Olympic Games just ended last year, the next Olympic Games will be held in two years, and the gap between the two Olympic Games is only three years, which is a new challenge for the preparation of each team. Recently, all 329 events of the 2026 Olympic Games have been determined, table tennis continues to retain all 5 events of the previous Olympic Games, and mixed doubles can continue to stay in the Olympic Games. At the same time, this means that the new task of national table tennis has been determined. In fact, Liu Guoliang, chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, has already made a decision to replace Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen with new people to meet the needs of long-term preparation for the Olympic Games.
Originally, after entering the Olympic Games, table tennis had four events, namely men's and women's singles and men's and women's doubles. At the 2008 Olympics, team events replaced doubles events, but the total number of gold medals remained four. At the 2020 Olympic Games, mixed doubles officially became a competition event, and the host players Mizutani Hayabusa / Ito Mishimasa defeated Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen to win the championship. For the national table tennis and Xinwen simulcast combination, it is indeed a great pity to lose this gold medal, and Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen lost an opportunity to make history. Hayabusa Mizutani's career was completed by this gold medal, and he announced his retirement some time ago.
A few days ago, all 329 minor events of the 2026 Olympic Games were determined, and the table tennis event was still 5 gold medals. Mixed doubles, after an Olympic experiment, was able to remain in the Olympic family. For the national table tennis, the confirmation of the five Olympic events of table tennis also means that their new tasks have been determined. Of course, the new goal of national table tennis is to strive to win all 5 gold medals and make up for the regrets of the last Olympic Games. Especially in the mixed doubles event, the national table tennis needs to invest more energy, and our opponents are also changing.
Liu Guoliang has already made a decision, in the Singapore Grand Slam competition, Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha won the mixed doubles event. Not only that, Wang Chuqin and Fan Zhendong won the men's doubles championship, and Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu won the women's doubles championship, and the two also had a good performance in singles. Liu Guoliang deliberately arranged for the two to participate in the mixed doubles event under the premise of one person and three events, which is obviously preparing for the next Olympic Games. Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen have had a hard time holding out for another Olympics, and the potential replacements are Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha.
The Shatou group has been paired for many years, and has achieved very good results in international competitions, and is the ideal candidate to replace Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen. For the national table tennis, it is natural to determine the key training object of mixed doubles as soon as possible, which allows us to have more time to fully prepare for the battle and make up for the regret of losing the last Olympic Games. While our main opponent Hayabusa Mizutani has retired, Ito has also made it clear that he will not continue to compete in the mixed doubles competition, and the new combination of Japanese table tennis, Tomoru Zhang Ben and/Hina Hayata, are much less threatening than Mizutani Hayabusa/Ito. Overall, the future of Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha is bright.
However, the game was played with one goal after all, and before the final of the last Olympic Games, Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen also suffered almost no defeat in the international arena. However, in the final, Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen were still defeated by their opponents. For Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha, we must learn the lesson of the last national table tennis loss to Japan, and play better in the new Olympic cycle, come on!