It is not wrong to say that the Japanese are "one tendon".
The 2022 Asian Games table tennis player selection, the Japan Table Tennis Association showed no mercy, completely based on the team's results to determine the participation list, the result of the upset olympic champion Ito Mimachi did not qualify for singles, and the world champion Ishikawa Yoshijun was completely defeated, which made people regret.
Prior to this, the Japan Table Tennis Association was also completely based on the results of the national championships and the top 32 to determine the list of the 2022 World Table Tennis Championships, the result of the world champion Ishikawa Yoshinori, Hirano Miyu both failed, the coaching staff did not give anyone a chance to "go through the back door", losing is losing, no matter what kind of honor you have received before, this time it is the same.
In this regard, many fans also questioned: can the national table tennis also use this method to determine the list of these two major competitions? Does Liu Guoliang want to consider it?
The topic of the selection of the Chinese and Japanese teams has been debated endlessly in the table tennis circle. Through comparison, we can find that Japanese table tennis is indeed a typical example of "one road to black".
In the Tokyo Olympics cycle, the main criterion for the selection of the Japanese team is the world ranking, such as how did the three main players of the Olympic Games come from? The team's highest-ranked Teams, Mimachi Ito, Yoshizumi Ishikawa, Tomokazu Akira Hiromoto, and Takaki Niwa, who are ranked third, compete in the team, and the third-ranked Mizuno and Hayabusa Mizutani participate in the team, depending on the effect of the combination.
However, before the Olympic Games are over, the selection plan of Japanese table tennis has been questioned by many parties, and many people believe that this "only world ranking" method is unreliable, after all, the more the main athletes, the easier it is to get international competition opportunities, and naturally the easier it is to brush points, which is very unfair to rising stars such as Hayata Hina.
What is even more speechless is that in January 2020, the Japanese team determined the candidates to participate in the Tokyo Olympic Games, but then the Olympic Games were postponed for 1 year, and the Table Tennis Association ignored the development and changes of the players in the team and insisted on using the original team, which also disappointed many Japanese fans.
But after the Tokyo Olympics, the Japan Table Tennis Association went from one extreme to the other, and now it does not look at the world ranking at all, but instead determines the qualification of the competition based on the results of the competition.
For example, at this year's Chengdu World Table Tennis Championships, the Japan Table Tennis Association let the singles champion of the national championship and the top four of the 32 finalists, while the Hangzhou Asian Games, the Japan Table Tennis Association let the singles champions of the top 32 competitions and the top four of the team selection competition participate, whether you are an Olympic champion or a world champion, no one is an exception!
Objectively speaking, the selection method of the Japan Table Tennis Association is indeed very fair, just and transparent, this point is not to say, after all, the rules are clearly written there, if you want to get on the position, you have to fight with real swords and guns, if the top four in the team competition can not be won, then what qualifications are there to participate in the world series?
However, many people have questioned their belief that the purpose of selection is to find a team that can win the championship for the country, rather than simply taking care of the principle of fairness. And as long as it is an athlete, there will definitely be ups and downs in the state of competition, how can we use the results of a competition to make a conclusion?
Therefore, this part of the fans believe that it is more scientific to let the table tennis association and the coaching staff master a certain number of mobile places, and then combine the results of international competitions, team selection competitions or world rankings.
At present, the Chinese Table Tennis Association's tentative Asian Games standard plan has long been released, athletes who won the WTT Grand Slam singles championship in March automatically get the Asian Games singles and team qualifications, the world's highest ranking players participate in singles, the top three participate in the team, and the world's highest ranking players after January 1999 are shortlisted for the team.
Because there are still vacancies in the quota, the insufficient part is still recommended by the coaching staff - it is clear that the national table tennis still adheres to a diversified selection method, not like the Japanese team to solve the problem "one size fits all", but the Japanese team used to attach great importance to the world ranking, and now it is not appropriate; and the national table tennis once did not look at the world ranking, but now it is an important basis.
It can be seen from this that the Chinese and Japanese table tennis associations actually learn from each other, as to which is better or worse? To be honest, this is not a matter that can be easily concluded, after all, the "family background" of the two sides is also different, so it is also difficult for us to judge the right and wrong in the results, so it seems that the only thing that can be compared is the original intention.
So do you think fairness is more important, or is the result more important? Feel free to leave a comment and write your own opinion!