With the release of the latest edition of the world rankings, the national table tennis team for this year's Hangzhou Asian Games has also been preliminarily released, especially in singles, four people have locked up the singles qualification for the Asian Games, they are Fan Zhendong, Ma Long, Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha.
For Malone, this will be Malone's second Asian Games singles trip, and for Fan Zhendong, this will be Fan Zhendong's third consecutive singles match at the Asian Games.
For Chen Meng, who is a women's table tennis player, this will also be Chen Meng's second time to participate in the singles competition of the Asian Games, and the young sun Yingsha will be the first time to participate in the singles competition of the Asian Games.
These four athletes are the absolute main force of national table tennis at present.
In fact, although the Asian Games are not as important as the Olympic Games, the associations still attach great importance to the Asian Games, and it is very difficult to qualify for the Asian Games, especially in singles, after all, due to the restrictions on the number of participants, each association can only have two athletes from men and two men to participate in the singles competition.
Therefore, the national table tennis is also very important in the singles participants of the Asian Games.
Looking back at the history of national table tennis, you will find that Liu Guoliang, Kong Linghui, Erwang Yima, Zhang Jike, Ma Long, Xu Xin, Fan Zhendong, etc. in men's table tennis have all participated in the singles competition of the Asian Games, while the main players of women's table tennis, such as Deng Yaping, Li Ju, Wang Nan, Zhang Yining, Guo Yue, Li Xiaoxia, Liu Shiwen, Zhu Yuling, Chen Meng and Wang Manyu, have participated in the singles competition of the Asian Games.
But have you ever noticed that there is an absolute main player in women's table tennis, even a Grand Slam winner, who has never played in a singles match at the Asian Games.
This athlete is Ding Ning, what is going on? Why has Ding Ning never played in a singles match at the Asian Games?
After Ding Ning became the main player of the national table tennis team, he had three opportunities to qualify for the Asian Games singles competition, but Ding Ning did not get one. The main reasons are as follows:
First, the loss of the Moscow World Table Tennis Championships was beaten into the cold palace.
At the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, Ding Ning was only 20 years old at the time, and he had the opportunity to qualify for the Asian Games.
After all, the Asian Games have always been considered the best opportunity to train young athletes, but Ding Ning's defeat at the Moscow World Table Tennis Championships put Ding Ning on the cold bench.
Ding Ning only qualified for the women's doubles and women's team at the Asian Games, and in the women's team competition, Ding Ning almost did not get the opportunity to play!
That year's Asian Games, the Chinese women's table tennis sent Guo Yue and Li Xiaoxia to participate in the women's singles competition, and this was Guo Yue's second time to participate in the women's singles competition at the Asian Games.
Second, the need to train young athletes, Ding Ning was once again sacrificed.
In 2014, when Ding Ning was 24 years old, Ding Ning had already won the World Table Tennis Championships and world cup singles championships, and together with Li Xiaoxia, he became the double core of Chinese women's table tennis.
However, at the 2014 Asian Games, Ding Ning once again failed to qualify for singles.
The main reason why Ding Ning did not qualify this time is that the national team needs to give young players more opportunities to exercise, so that Ding Ning once again did not qualify for the Asian Games singles, and the final asian Games singles qualification was Liu Shiwen, who was one year younger than Ding Ning, and Zhu Yuling, 19 years old!
In 2018, Ding Ning was already a Grand Slam winner, and at this time, Ding Ning already held three World Table Tennis Championships, three World Cups and one Olympic Singles Champion, and there was no need to participate in the singles competition of the Asian Games.
At the Asian Games, the national table tennis sent young Chen Meng and Wang Manyu to participate in the singles competition of the Asian Games.
As the only five Grand Slam winners in Chinese women's table tennis, Ding Ning has never won a singles opportunity to participate in the Asian Games, and it has to be said that this is indeed extremely rare in the history of Chinese women's table tennis. And not being able to play a single in the Asian Games has also become Ding Ning's biggest regret!