The ITTF has announced the world rankings for the 14th week of 2022, which is an important time node for the national table tennis, because this week's world ranking is linked to the Asian Games lineup. According to the selection method previously announced by the Chinese Table Tennis Association, Fan Zhendong, Ma Long, Liang Jingkun, Wang Chuqin, Chen Meng, Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu have been selected for the Hangzhou Asian Games lineup, and veteran Liu Shiwen is facing challenges.
According to the rules, the singles champions of the first Grand Slam directly qualified for the Asian Games singles, and Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng were the first to be shortlisted. The player with the highest singles ranking in Week 14 qualifies for the Asian Games, and if he is the same as the Grand Slam candidate, he will have to postpone one. Therefore, Ma Long and Sun Yingsha also qualified for the Asian Games singles.
According to the above rules, men and women have identified two selected players. In addition, the top three players in the 14th week of singles can be selected for the team squad, and special care is given to young players, that is, the world's highest-ranked players born after January 1, 1999 can also be shortlisted for the team lineup.
In summary, the players who have been confirmed to qualify for the Asian Games are Fan Zhendong, Ma Long, Liang Jingkun, Wang Chuqin, Chen Meng, Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu. That is to say, the boy band still has one seat left, and the women's group has two seats left. The popular candidates of the boy band are Xu Xin and Lin Gaoyuan, and the popular candidates of the women's group include Wang Yidi, Chen Xingtong, Liu Shiwen and so on.
There is also an important decision of the Table Tennis Association, if the above rules do not select all the players, the remaining places will be discussed and decided by the coaching staff. In particular, it is pointed out that the selection of the coaching staff should be conducive to the preparation and training of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, focusing on the echelon construction of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Explain that the remaining places may be given to young players, lin Shidong of the men's team, Kuman of the women's team and even hope to qualify for the Asian Games.
Such a decision is particularly unfavorable to the veteran, and it may be difficult for Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen to participate in the Asian Games. For Liu Shiwen, after missing the Olympic singles qualification, now she has to say goodbye to the Asian Games singles qualification. As for whether Liu Shiwen can be selected for the team lineup, it is difficult to say. The women's team lineup is relatively young, and it may need a veteran to press the lineup, which may be Liu Shiwen's advantage.
In a short period of time, the core of women's table tennis is definitely Chen Meng, Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha once again harvested a good opportunity to have a direct dialogue in the asian games women's singles final. No matter who the coaching staff ultimately chooses, our goal is to win 7 gold medals at the Asian Games, and the national table tennis team will cheer up!