It's time until May. At present, the strong teams in the world table tennis world have not made a big move, and the same is true for the national table tennis, most of the team members are still in a state of rest, but there are also people such as Sun Yingsha who are practicing diligently and preparing for follow-up events. Recently, the International Table Tennis Federation out of the latest developments: after a period of discussion and discussion, the new rules on the reform of world ranking points have been finalized, as far as the overall situation is concerned, the new rules will have a direct negative impact on some of the main forces of national table tennis, and the decline is inevitable, which also puts forward a new test for Liu Guoliang and others.
In fact, since playing 2020, as a direct stakeholder of international competitions, the International Table Tennis Federation has always paid attention to the improvement of the content of the world ranking rules, and the calculation method is constantly fine-tuned to adapt to the current special situation. After a period of research, they have officially decided that the "initial points" introduced in 2020 will be deleted, and the sum of the eight highest points achieved by players in the past 12 months will be considered as the ranking criteria under the new rules. However, considering that the current situation is still relatively special, some of the initial points will be retained for compromise, and will be reduced over time until the deduction is completely complete.
Simply put, the ITTF shortened the time span, reformulated the rules, and "distributed" more of the points dividend to the athletes who actively participated. The original intention of the ITTF is that the level of the event does not affect the points linkage, whether it is a side event, a regular challenge, a regular star game or a Grand Slam, as long as someone participates in the competition to get points, then the corresponding world ranking will change, and the players who do not participate will naturally be surpassed by the latecomers in the ranking. In terms of national table tennis, people like Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu, Chen Meng, Wang Chuqin, Liang Jingkun and others have not been greatly affected because they have competed in many competitions in the past year. Players like Xu Xin, Liu Shiwen and Zhu Yuling will suffer a decline in rankings.
In the second half of the Tokyo cycle, Xu Xin, Liu Shiwen and Zhu Yuling missed many international competitions (such as the Houston World Table Tennis Championships, world cup finals, etc.) for various reasons, and there was almost no change in points. If they want to return to the first echelon of the world rankings, according to the new rules, they need to be brave models and work hard to win points all year round, but considering their own actual situation, on the one hand, they have to fight against their own injuries, on the other hand, they have to use their achievements to increase their persuasion, which is obviously impossible.
With the advantage of some of the main players of national table tennis no longer, the beneficiaries of this new rule have emerged, and new players from foreign associations such as Hugo, Dacco, Aruna, Diaz and other foreign associations are active frequently, and their efforts under the new rules have won reciprocal returns. Japan and South Korea also ushered in the opportunity to overtake in the corner, its own ranking is close to the top of the national table tennis zhang Benzhihe, Ito Mimachi and other people, with physical advantages, the follow-up is bound to increase the frequency to participate in various events, through the ranking points accumulated in the branch race, gradually shorten the point difference with the main force of the national table tennis, so as to make full preparations for the signing of the competition.
In the face of such a new situation, Liu Guoliang and others will certainly adjust their thinking in the employment of people, and the author believes that the Paris cycle will still be based on Fan Zhendong, Liang Jingkun, Wang Chuqin, Chen Meng, Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu as the first echelon to compete in major events, and Lin Shidong, Ku Man, Xiang Peng and others who are gradually playing sharply will continue to practice in the regional competitions as the second echelon and seize points to occupy a powerful position. The alternation of the old and the new is also a positive push forward. In fact, the national table tennis has been targeted by many rule changes in the past, so it is not uncommon to be pushed to the cusp of the wave this time. How Liu Guoliang and others will respond in the future, we may wish to wait and see.