The 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games and chengdu world table tennis championships are approaching step by step, as of April 24, the two major opponents of national table tennis - Japan and South Korea have been announced, and many of the world champions have been defeated, including Xu Xin's old partner Liang Xiayin, as well as Ishikawa Jiachun and others, it is indeed unexpected, it is really fierce competition!
Compared with last year's Olympic Games, single World Table Tennis Championships, and the National Games, this year's table tennis is relatively less lively, the only world competition is the team World Table Tennis Championships, and then only the Hangzhou Asian Games are more important, as for the latest WTT Grand Slam Tournament, there is no news, so everyone's preparation focus is still on the traditional competition.
As a result, the internal competition between the two major ping-pong powers of Japan and South Korea soon began.
In March of this year, Japan's World Table Tennis Championships roster was released first, starting with two national championship singles champions Hayasuke Tokami and Mimako Ito, followed by the top four athletes in the Round of 32, Chikazu Chang Moto, Takashi Niwa, Reiki Kawa, Seiyoshi Yokotani, Hina Hayata, Miyu Nagasaki, Miyu Kihara and Hitomi Sato.
It is worth mentioning that two of the five main players of the Tokyo Olympic Games in Japan (Mizutani Hayabusa retired) have all lost this year's World Table Tennis Championships, and both are world champions, that is, the women's team of Ishikawa Yoshinori and Hirano Miyu, both of whom did not reach the semifinals in the round of 32, and both were brushed off, and the other men's team world champion Makoto Yoshimura was no exception.
In recent years, the internal volume of Japanese men's table tennis has been very serious, but the competition of the women's team in this selection tournament has become more intense, which is surprising to many people.
After the arrival of April, the Japanese team held another Asian Games selection match, which resulted in the return of King Miyu Hirano and the domineering victory, and Ishikawa Yoshijun was eliminated. Coupled with the final four players Miyu Kihara, Hitomi Sato, Ito Mimako, Yoshimura Masaharu, Tokami Hayabusa, Kawazuki, Matsushita Daisei and the champions of the Round of 32, Tomokazu Kashiwa Ande Hayata, directly entered the list of ten.
Overall, among the main Olympic players and world champions, only Ishikawa Yoshinori had the worst situation, neither of the two competitions was shortlisted, and he was also blasted out of the 0-11 score, and his career has obviously reached a stage of rapid decline.
Compared with Japanese table tennis, the selection of the Korean team is more simple and rough, except for the Chinese famous Tian Zhixi, who was shortlisted with the world ranking, the other nine places were determined in the April selection competition, and no one can be an exception (Jeong Young-sik and Shin Yu-bin did not participate, and Lim Jong-hoon withdrew).
After a week of fierce duels, the roster of the South Korean team has also been determined, of which the men's team is Jang Yu-jin, Ahn Jae-hyun, Cho Dae-sung, Cho Seung-min, Hwang Min-ho, and the women's team is Tian Zhixi, Kim Na-young, Lee Shi-win, Yoon Hyo-bin, kim Ha-young. Among them, Kim Na-young is only 16 years old, the youngest of the current Japanese and Korean teams, and also the super dark horse of this selection competition.
So far, two of Japan's five Olympic main players have lost the World Table Tennis Championships (Ishikawa Yoshijun, Hirano Miyu) and one has lost the Asian Games (Ishikawa Yoshijun), while as many as four of South Korea's six Olympic main players have lost two major competitions (Jung Young-sik, Lee Sang-so, Shin Yu-bin, Choi Hyo-joo) - the replacement of old and new has become an unstoppable trend!
So when will the chinese team's entry list be determined? There are still more than four months to go before the game starts, so let's wait and see!